Unexpected scenario of glass transition in polymer globules: an exactly enumerable model.
We introduce a lattice model of glass transition in polymer globules. This model exhibits ergodicity breaking in which the disjoint regions of phase space do not arise uniformly, but as small chambers whose number increases exponentially with polymer density. Chamber sizes obey power law distribution, making phase space similar to a fractal foam. This clearly demonstrates the importance of the phase space geometry and topology in describing any glass-forming system, such as semicompact polymers during protein folding.
Du
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Department of Physics and Center for Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Grosberg
A Y
AY
Tanaka
T
T
Rubinstein
M
M
D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding
D011108:Polymers