title: High-frequency stress relaxation in semiflexible polymer solutions and networks.
abstract: We measure the linear viscoelasticity of sterically entangled and chemically cross-linked networks of actin filaments over more than five decades of frequency. The high-frequency response reveals rich dynamics unique to semiflexible polymers, including a previously unobserved relaxation due to rapid axial tension propagation. For high molecular weight, and for cross-linked gels, we obtain quantitative agreement with predicted shear moduli in both amplitude and frequency dependence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Koenderink
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atakhorrami
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: MacKintosh
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry*; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D005782:Gels