title: Slow energy relaxation of macromolecules and nanoclusters in solution.
abstract: Many systems in the realm of nanophysics from both the living and the inorganic world display slow relaxation kinetics of energy fluctuations. In this Letter we propose a general explanation for such a phenomenon, based on the effects of interactions with the solvent. Within a simple harmonic model of the system fluctuations, we demonstrate that the inhomogeneity of coupling to the solvent of the bulk and surface atoms suffices to generate a complex spectrum of decay rates. We show for myoglobin and for a metal nanocluster that the result is a complex, nonexponential relaxation dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Physics-LBS, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Francesco.Piazza@epfl.ch
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piazza
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Los Rios
authors.forename: Y-H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sanejouand
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D012996:Solutions; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D009211:Myoglobin; D012996:Solutions