Exact Statistics of Helical Wormlike Chains with Twist-Bend Coupling

TL;DR

This paper derives an exact Green's function solution for helical wormlike chains with twist-bend coupling, revealing how this coupling influences polymer properties like persistence length and force-extension behavior.

Contribution

It provides the first exact analytical framework for analyzing the effects of twist-bend coupling on helical wormlike chains, enabling better interpretation of experimental data.

Findings

Twist-bend coupling renormalizes persistence length.

Force-extension curves are affected by twist-bend coupling.

Oscillatory behavior in tangent correlations observed in twisted polymers.

Abstract

We present a solution for the Green's function for the general case of a helical wormlike chain with twist-bend coupling, and demonstrate the applicability of our solution for evaluating general structural and mechanical chain properties. We find that twist-bend coupling renormalizes the persistence length and the force-extension curves relative to worm-like chains. Analysis of intrinsically twisted polymers shows that incorporation of twist-bend coupling results in the oscillatory behavior in principal tangent correlations that are observed in some studies of synthetic polymers. The exact nature of our solution provides a framework to evaluate the role of twist-bend coupling on polymer properties and motivates the reinterpretation of existing bio-polymer experimental data.