Scaling regimes of a semi-flexible polymer in a rectangular channel

Abstract

We derive scaling relations for the extension statistics and the confinement free energy for a semi-flexible polymer confined to a channel with a rectangular cross-section. Our motivation are recent numerical results [Gupta {\em et al.}, JCP {\bf 140} (2014) 214901] indicating that extensional fluctuations are quite different in rectangular channels compared to square channels. Our results are of direct relevance for interpreting current experiments on DNA molecules confined to nano-channels, as many experiments are performed for rectangular channels with large aspect ratios while theoretical and simulation results are usually obtained for square channels.

arXiv comment4 pages, 1 figure, supplementary material, submitted to Phys. Rev. E

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Compressive response and helix formation of a semi flexible polymer confined in a nanochannel
• Free energy of a folded polymer under cylindrical confinement
• Free energy of a folded semiflexible polymer confined to a nanochannel of various geometries
• Stochastic unfolding of nanoconfined DNA: experiments, model and Bayesian analysis
• Finite-size corrections for confined polymers in the extended de Gennes regime
• Hairpins in the conformations of a confined polymer