title: Contact Kinetics in Fractal Macromolecules.
abstract: We consider the kinetics of first contact between two monomers of the same macromolecule. Relying on a fractal description of the macromolecule, we develop an analytical method to compute the mean first contact time for various molecular sizes. In our theoretical description, the non-Markovian feature of monomer motion, arising from the interactions with the other monomers, is captured by accounting for the nonequilibrium conformations of the macromolecule at the very instant of first contact. This analysis reveals a simple scaling relation for the mean first contact time between two monomers, which involves only their equilibrium distance and the spectral dimension of the macromolecule, independently of its microscopic details. Our theoretical predictions are in excellent agreement with numerical stochastic simulations.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dolgushev
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux and CNRS, Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine (LOMA), UMR 5798, 33400 Talence, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guérin
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blumen
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bénichou
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Voituriez