Home > Publications database > Active bath-induced localization and collapse of passive semiflexible polymers |
Journal Article | FZJ-2021-03162 |
; ;
2021
American Institute of Physics
Melville, NY
This record in other databases:
Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/28560 doi:10.1063/5.0058150
Abstract: The conformational and dynamical properties of a passive polymer embedded in a bath of active Brownian particles (ABPs) are studied by Langevin dynamics simulations. Various activities and ABP concentrations below and above the critical values for motility-induced phase separation (MIPS) are considered. In a homogeneous ABP fluid, the embedded polymer swells with increasing bath activity, with stronger swelling for larger densities. The polymer dynamics is enhanced, with the diffusion coefficient increasing by a power-law with increasing activity, where the exponent depends on the ABP concentration. For ABP concentrations in the MIPS regime, we observe a localization of the polymer in the low-density ABP phase associated with polymer collapse for moderate activities and a reswelling for high activities accom- panied by a preferred localization in the high-density ABP phase. Localization and reswelling are independent of the polymer stiffness, with stiff polymers behaving similarly to flexible polymers. The polymer collapse is associated with a slowdown of its dynamics and a significantly smaller center-of-mass diffusion coefficient. In general, the polymer dynamics can only partially be described by an effective (bath) tempera- ture. Moreover, the properties of a polymer embedded in a homogeneous active bath deviate quantitatively from those of a polymer composed of active monomers, i.e., linear chains of ABPs; however, such a polymer exhibits qualitatively similar activity-dependent features.
![]() |
The record appears in these collections: |