Semiflexible Polymer Enclosed in a 3D Compact Domain

Abstract

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The conformational states of a semiflexible polymer enclosed in a volume V:=ℓ3 are studied as stochastic realizations of paths using the stochastic curvature approach developed in [Rev. E 100, 012503 (2019)], in the regime whenever 3ℓ/ℓp>1, where ℓp 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.

Keywords

• semiflexible polymer
• stochastic curvature
• shape transition
• critical persistence length
• mean-square end-to-end distance
• worm-like chain