Unwinding relaxation dynamics of polymers

Abstract

The relaxation dynamics of a polymer wound around a fixed obstacle constitutes a fundamental instance of polymer with twist and torque and it is of relevance also for DNA denaturation dynamics. We investigate it by simulations and Langevin equation analysis. The latter predicts a relaxation time scaling as a power of the polymer length times a logarithmic correction related to the equilibrium fluctuations of the winding angle. The numerical data support this result and show that at short times the winding angle decreases as a power-law. This is also in agreement with the Langevin equation provided a winding-dependent friction is used, suggesting that such reduced description of the system captures the basic features of the problem.

4 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (2)

• Anomalous Dynamics of Unbiased Polymer Translocation through a Narrow Pore
• Unwinding dynamics of double-stranded polymers

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• Torque-Induced Rotational Dynamics in Polymers: Torsional Blobs and Thinning
• Rotational dynamics of entangled polymers
• Hotter isn't faster for a melting RNA hairpin
• Winding angles of long lattice walks