Semiflexible polymer enclosed in a 3D compact domain

TL;DR

This paper investigates the conformational states and shape transitions of a semiflexible polymer confined within 3D compact domains like cubes and spheres, revealing a universal behavior characterized by a critical persistence length.

Contribution

It introduces a stochastic curvature approach to analyze polymer conformations in confined spaces and identifies a universal shape transition related to the persistence length.

Findings

Identification of a shape transition at a critical persistence length

Universal signature of semiflexible polymer behavior in confined domains

Analysis of polymer conformations in cube and sphere geometries

Abstract

The conformational states of a semiflexible polymer enclosed in a volume $V:=\ell^{3}$ are studied as stochastic realizations of paths using the stochastic curvature approach developed in [Rev. E 100, 012503 (2019)], in the regime whenever $3\ell/\ell_ {p}> 1$, where $\ell_{p}$ is the persistence length. The cases of a semiflexible polymer enclosed in a cube and sphere are considered. In these cases, we explore the Spakowitz-Wang type polymer shape transition, where the critical persistence length distinguishes between an oscillating and a monotonic phase at the level of the mean-square end-to-end distance. This shape transition provides evidence of a universal signature of the behavior of a semiflexible polymer confined in a compact domain.