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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 100: Poster Session I

AKB 100.61: Poster

Saturday, March 5, 2005, 16:45–18:45, Poster TU D

Toroids versus racquets: the collapse of semiflexible polymers of finite thickness — •Eugene Starostin and Ralf Everaers — Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Straße 38, D-01187 Dresden, Deutschland

We calculate the minimal energy shapes of a semiflexible polymer in a poor solvent. Following Schnurr, MacKintosh et al., our conformational energy includes the bending elastic component and the surface energy. We take into account the finite thickness of the molecule and reconsider the relative stability of rod-like, toroidal and “racquet” conformations. The main result is presented as a phase diagram computed for relatively short effective length. In agreement with earlier results in the zero-thickness approximation, thin filaments collapse into toroidal shapes. However, beyond a critical thickness, the kinetically preferred racquet state also turns out to be the ground state.