Abstract
The role of thermal fluctuations in the conformational dynamics of a single closed filament is studied. It is shown that, due to the interaction between charges and bending degrees of freedom, initially circular aggregates may undergo transformation to a polygonal shape. The transition occurs in the cases of hardening and softening charge-bending interaction. In the former case the charge and curvature are smoothly distributed along the chain, while in the latter spontaneous kink formation is initiated. The transition to a noncircular conformation is analogous to a phase transition of the second kind.
3 More- Received 30 April 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.051908
©2008 American Physical Society