title: Phase diagram and the pseudogap state in a linear chiral homopolymer model.
abstract: The phase structure of a single self-interacting homopolymer chain is investigated in terms of a universal theoretical model, designed to describe the chain in the infrared limit of slow spatial variations. The effects of chirality are studied and compared with the influence of a short-range attractive interaction between monomers, at various ambient temperature values. In the high-temperature limit the homopolymer chain is in the self-avoiding random walk phase. At very low temperatures two different phases are possible: When short-range attractive interactions dominate over chirality, the chain collapses into a space-filling conformation. But when the attractive interactions weaken, there is a low-temperature unfolding transition and the chain becomes like a straight rod. Between the high- and low-temperature limits, several intermediate states are observed, including the θ regime and pseudogap state, which is a novel form of phase state in the context of polymer chains. Applications to polymers and proteins, in particular collagen, are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Problems of Microphysics, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sinelnikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 803, S-75108, Uppsala, Sweden.|Laboratoire de Mathematiques et Physique Theorique CNRS UMR 6083, Fédération Denis Poisson, Université de Tours, Parc de Grandmont, F37200 Tours, France.|Department of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Niemi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Problems of Microphysics, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia.|Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Regensburg, D-93053 Germany, Regensburg, Universitatsstrasse 31.|ITEP, B. Cheremushkinskaya str. 25, Moscow 117218, Russia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ulybyshev