Thermodynamics of tubelike flexible polymers.
In this work, we discuss the general phase behavior of short tubelike flexible polymers. The geometric thickness constraint is implemented through the concept of the global radius of curvature. We use sophisticated Monte Carlo sampling methods to simulate small bead-stick polymer models with Lennard-Jones interaction among nonbonded monomers. We analyze energetic fluctuations and structural quantities to classify conformational pseudophases. We find that the tube thickness influences the thermodynamic behavior of simple tubelike polymers significantly, i.e., for a given temperature, the formation of secondary structures strongly depends on the tube thickness.
Vogel
Thomas
T
Institut für Theoretische Physik and Centre for Theoretical Sciences (NTZ), Universität Leipzig, Postfach 100 920, 04009 Leipzig, Germany.
Neuhaus
Thomas
T
Bachmann
Michael
M
Janke
Wolfhard
W