Effective forces between active polymers

Abstract

The characterization of the interactions between two fully flexible self-avoiding polymers is one of the classic and most important problems in polymer physics. In this paper we measure these interactions in the presence of active fluctuations. We introduce activity into the problem using two of the most popular models in this field. One where activity is effectively embedded into the monomers' dynamics, and the other where passive polymers fluctuate in an explicit bath of active particles. We establish the conditions under which the interaction between active polymers can be mapped into the classical passive problem. We observe that the active bath can drive the development of strong attractive interactions between the polymers and that, upon enforcing a significant degree of overlap, they come together to form a single double-stranded unit. A phase diagram tracing this change in conformational behavior is also reported.

6 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Motility-Induced Phase Separation
• Tuned, driven, and active soft matter
• The physics of active polymers and filaments
• Active colloidal suspensions: Clustering and phase behavior
• Tunable long range forces mediated by self-propelled colloidal hard spheres
• An active approach to colloidal self-assembly
• How does a flexible chain of active particles swell?
• Unusual swelling of a polymer in a bacterial bath
• Activity induced collapse and re-expansion of rigid polymers