title: Anomalous polymer sedimentation far from equilibrium.
abstract: A single flexible polymer in strong sedimentation fields is investigated using hydrodynamic simulations and scaling arguments. For short chains and small fields compaction is observed. For elevated fields or long chains the chain stretches and the sedimentation coefficient decreases, in agreement with ultracentrifuge experiments on linear as well as circular DNA. For very large fields a tadpole forms consisting of a compact leading head and a trailing stretched tail.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Technical University Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Xaver
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Schlagberger
authors.forename: Roland R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Netz
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000737:chemistry; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014461:Ultracentrifugation
chemical_list: D004270:DNA, Circular; D011108:Polymers; D004247:DNA