Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 44: Poster: Active Matter, Soft Matter, and Fluids

DY 44.18: Poster

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 15:00–18:00, P5

Gelation versus bundling in parallel-aligned directed polymers — •Panayotis Benetatos and Minsu Yi — Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea

In many soft-matter and biological systems, bundles of similarly charged parallel-aligned filaments form when a short-range attraction overcomes the longer-range electrostatic repulsion. It is also known that permanent cross-links in parallel-aligned directed polymers can yield a directed gel with a finite in-plane shear modulus. Because permanent cross-links effectively act as a short-range attraction, we are motivated to investigate the interplay of gelation versus bundling in such a system. Using the theoretical tools of replica field theory, where the cross-links are treated as quenched disorder following the Deam-Edwards distribution, we show that the effective attraction due to spring-like permanent cross-links is too weak to induce bundling before the gelation transition.

Keywords: gelation; filaments; bundles; cross-links; Deam-Edwards distribution