title: Dynamics of a polymer in an active and viscoelastic bath.
abstract: We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the center of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the persistence time of the active forces, monomers can move superdiffusively, while on larger time scales subdiffusive behavior occurs. The difference between this subdiffusion and that in the absence of active forces is quantified. We show that the polymer swells in response to active processes and determine how this swelling depends on the viscoelastic properties of the environment. Our results are compared to recent experiments on the motion of chromosomal loci in bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sciences, Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vandebroek
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sciences, Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.|Instituut Theoretische Fysica, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vanderzande
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D004548:Elasticity; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D011108:Polymers; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers