title: Efimov-like phase of a three-stranded DNA and the renormalization-group limit cycle.
abstract: A three-stranded DNA with short range base pairings only is known to exhibit a classical analog of the quantum Efimov effect, viz., a three-chain bound state at the two-chain melting point where no two are bound. By using a nonperturbative renormalization-group method for a rigid duplex DNA and a flexible third strand, with base pairings and strand exchange, we show that the Efimov-DNA is associated with a limit cycle type behavior of the flow of an effective three-chain interaction. The analysis also shows that thermally generated bubbles play an essential role in producing the effect. A toy model for the flow equations shows the limit cycle in an extended three-dimensional parameter space of the two-chain coupling and a complex three-chain interaction.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 751005, India.
authors.forename: Tanmoy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 751005, India.
authors.forename: Poulomi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sadhukhan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 751005, India.|Department of Physics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math, West Bengal 711202, India.
authors.forename: Somendra M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bhattacharjee
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D004247:DNA