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Force-Extension Relations for Polymers with Sliding Links

Ralf Metzler·Yacov Kantor·Mehran Kardar
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Abstract

Topological entanglements in polymers are mimicked by sliding rings (slip-links) which enforce pair contacts between monomers. We study the force-extension curve for linear polymers in which slip-links create additional loops of variable size. For a single loop in a phantom chain, we obtain exact expressions for the average end-to-end separation: The linear response to a small force is related to the properties of the unstressed chain, while for a large force the polymer backbone can be treated as a sequence of Pincus--de Gennes blobs, the constraint effecting only a single blob. Generalizing this picture, scaling arguments are used to include self-avoiding effects.

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Ralf Metzler, Yacov Kantor, Mehran Kardar. 2002-06-05. Force-Extension Relations for Polymers with Sliding Links. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.66.022102

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