Effect of Anomalous Dynamics on Unbiased Polymer Translocation

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the microscopic dynamics of a polymer of length $N$ translocating through a narrow pore. Characterization of its purportedly anomalous dynamics has so far remained incomplete. We show that the polymer dynamics is anomalous until the Rouse time ${\tau }_R\sim N^{1+2\nu }$, with a mean square displacement through the pore consistent with $t^{(1+\nu )/(1+2\nu )}$, with $\nu \approx 0.588$ the Flory exponent. This is shown to be directly related to a decay in time of the excess monomer density near the pore as $t^{-(1+\nu )/(1+2\nu )}\exp (-t/{\tau }_R)$. Beyond the Rouse time translocation becomes diffusive. In consequence of this, the dwell-time ${\tau }_d$, the time a translocating polymer typically spends within the pore, scales as $N^{2+\nu }$, in contrast to previous claims.

Significantly rewritten; 9 pages, 7 figures (8 figure files)

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Driven polymer translocation through a nanopore: a manifestation of anomalous diffusion
• Passage Times for Polymer Translocation Pulled through a Narrow Pore