Tension dynamics in semiflexible polymers. I. Coarse-grained equations of motion.
Based on the wormlike chain model, a coarse-grained description of the nonlinear dynamics of a weakly bending semiflexible polymer is developed. By means of a multiple-scale perturbation analysis, a length-scale separation inherent to the weakly bending limit is exploited to reveal the deterministic nature of the spatio temporal relaxation of the backbone tension and to deduce the corresponding coarse-grained equation of motion. From this partial integro-differential equation, some detailed analytical predictions for the nonlinear response of a weakly bending polymer are derived in an accompanying paper [O. Hallatschek, following paper, Phys. Rev. E 75, 031906 (2007)].
Hallatschek
Oskar
O
Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ohallats@fas.harvard.edu
Frey
Erwin
E
Kroy
Klaus
K
D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009038:Motion; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength
D001704:Biopolymers; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins