Persistence Length and Phases of a Flexible Polymers with Dipole Interactions


Abstract in English

The thermodynamic and elastic properties of a flexible polymer in the presence of dipole interactions are studied via Monte Carlo simulations. The structural coil-globular, solid-globular, and solid-solid transitions are mapped in the hyperphase diagram, parameterized by the dipole concentration, $eta$, and temperature, $T$. Polymer flexibility is usually quantified by the persistent length, $ell_p$, which is defined as the length on which the bond-bond correlation is lost. Non-monotonic flexibility of polymeric complexes as a function of $eta$ has been interpreted as a cooperative effect under the Worm-Like Chain model. Instead of the usual exponential behavior, $langle Cleft(kright)ranglepropto e^{-k/ell_p}$, here we show that the bond-bond correlation follows a power law decay, $langle Cleft(kright)rangleapprox c_0k^{-omega}$. The power law regime holds even at the coil-globular transition, where a Gaussian limit is expected, originated from non-leading terms due to monomer-monomer connectivity. The exponent $omega$ monotonically converges to the mbox{SAW} limit for large $eta$, if the isotherm pathway is constructed at the coil phase. The deviation from ideality in better probed at the chain segment size, and the expected $Theta-$condition at the $(T,eta)$ pathway near the coil-globular transition is not observed.

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