title: Fluctuating semiflexible polymer ribbon constrained to a ring.
abstract: Twist stiffness and an asymmetric bending stiffness of a polymer or a polymer bundle is captured by the elastic ribbon model. We investigate the effects a ring geometry induces to a thermally fluctuating ribbon, finding bend-bend coupling in addition to twist-bend coupling. Furthermore, due to the geometric constraint the polymer's effective bending stiffness increases. A new parameter for experimental investigations of polymer bundles is proposed: the mean square diameter of a ribbonlike ring, which is determined analytically in the semiflexible limit. Monte Carlo simulations are performed which affirm the model's prediction up to high flexibility.
authors.affiliation: Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics and Center for NanoScience, Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany. karen.alim@physik.lmu.de
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alim
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers