How long does it take to pull an ideal polymer into a small hole?
We present scaling estimates for characteristic times taulin and taubr of pulling ideal linear and randomly branched polymers of N monomers into a small hole by a force f. We show that the absorbtion process develops as sequential straightening of folds of the initial polymer configuration. By estimating the typical size of the fold involved into the motion, we arrive at the following predictions, taulin(N) approximately N3/2/f and taubr(N)approximately N5/4/f, and we also confirm them by the molecular dynamics experiment.
Grosberg
A Yu
AY
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
Nechaev
S
S
Tamm
M
M
Vasilyev
O
O