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arXiv · 1210.3228

Confined chiral polymer nematics: ordering and spontaneous condensation

Daniel Svenšek·Rudolf Podgornik
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Abstract

We investigate condensation of a long confined chiral nematic polymer inside a spherical enclosure, mimicking condensation of DNA inside a viral capsid. The Landau-de Gennes nematic free energy {\sl Ansatz} appropriate for nematic polymers allows us to study the condensation process in detail with different boundary conditions at the enclosing wall that simulate repulsive and attractive polymer-surface interactions. Increasing the chirality, we observe a transformation of the toroidal condensate into a closed surface with an increasing genus, akin to the ordered domain formation observed in cryo-microscopy of bacteriophages.

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Daniel Svenšek, Rudolf Podgornik. 2012-10-11. Confined chiral polymer nematics: ordering and spontaneous condensation. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075%2F100%2F66005

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