Straightening of Thermal Fluctuations in Semi-Flexible Polymers by Applied Tension

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of a suddenly applied tension along a thermally excited semi-flexible polymer using analytical approximations, scaling arguments and numerical simulation. This problem is inherently non-linear. We find sub-diffusive propagation with a dynamical exponent of 1/4. By generalizing the internal elasticity, we show that tense strings exhibit qualitatively different tension profiles and propagation with an exponent of 1/2.

Latex file; with three postscript figures; .ps available at http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/~nelson/pull.ps