Entropic force of polymers on a cone tip

Entropic force of polymers on a cone tip

We consider polymers attached to the tip of a cone, and the resulting force due to entropy loss on approaching a plate (or another cone). At separations shorter than the polymer radius of gyration Rg, the only relevant length scale is the tip-plate (or tip-tip) separation h, and the entropic force i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Faghfoor Maghrebi, Mohammad (Contributor), Kantor, Yacov (Author), Kardar, Mehran (Contributor)
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing, 2013-01-24T17:08:11Z.
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Summary:We consider polymers attached to the tip of a cone, and the resulting force due to entropy loss on approaching a plate (or another cone). At separations shorter than the polymer radius of gyration Rg, the only relevant length scale is the tip-plate (or tip-tip) separation h, and the entropic force is given by F=Ak[subscript B]T/h. The universal amplitude A can be related to (geometry dependent) correlation exponents of long polymers. We compute A for phantom polymers, and for self-avoiding (including star) polymers by epsilon-expansion, as well as by numerical simulations in 3 dimensions.
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMR-08-03315)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY05-51164)

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