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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 27: Nonequilibrium Processes and Self-Organisation
BP 27.2: Talk
Friday, March 30, 2007, 11:00–11:15, H43
Dynamics of rod-like macromolecules — •Felix Höfling1,2, Erwin Frey1, and Thomas Franosch1 — 1Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC) and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstraße 37, 80333 München — 2Hahn-Meitner Institut, Abteilung Theorie, Glienicker Straße 100, 14109 Berlin
Nature as well as modern technology presents us a variety of heterogeneous materials ranging from porous rock over gels to the inner structure of eukaryotic cells. Macromolecules being immersed in such materials exhibit a host of phenomena including Brownian motion, anomalous diffusion, fractal dynamics and a peculiar zig-zag motion.
The emergence of anomalous transport can be understood as a consequence of spatial heterogeneities and excluded volume within a minimal model [1]. We have extended this model to capture essential properties of the dynamics of a rod moving between randomly distributed, fixed rods. For long rods, strong entanglement effects lead to a suppression of rotational diffusion, while at the same time, they enhance center-of-mass diffusion [2].
Our results from Molecular Dynamics simulations allow for a detailed comparison with the tube model. Further, they give insight into the origin of the zig-zag motion and the effect of enhanced diffusion.
[1] F. Höfling, T. Franosch, E. Frey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 165901 (2006).
[2] F. Höfling, Ph. D. thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (2006).