On the Pseudo-Schrödinger Equation approximation of the Transfer-Integral operator for 1-dimensional DNA models

Abstract

The Transfer-Integral (TI) operator is a powerful method to investigate the statistical physics of 1-dimensional models, like those used to describe DNA denaturation. At the cost of a certain number of approximations, the TI equation can be reduced to a Pseudo-Schrödinger Equation (PSE), according to which the DNA sequence is equivalent to a point particle moving in a potential well. In this paper, I check the validity of the standard PSE approximation for two different 1-dimensional DNA models, and show that it fails to provide correct results for both of them. I then propose a generalized PSE, which works well for one of the two models. Finally, I discuss the particle description of DNA denaturation that is derived from this generalized PSE.

accepted in the Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics

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