Issue 29, 2015

Modeling the stretching of wormlike chains in the presence of excluded volume

Abstract

We propose an interpolation formula (the EV-WLC relation) for the force–extension behavior of wormlike chains in the presence of hard-core excluded volume interactions, analogous to the classic interpolation formula from Marko and Siggia for ideal wormlike chains. Using pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM) simulations of asymptotically long, discrete wormlike chains in an external force, we show that the error in the EV-WLC interpolation formula to describe discrete wormlike chains is systematically smaller than the error in the Marko–Siggia interpolation formula, except for the saturation region in which both formulas have the same limiting behavior. We anticipate that the EV-WLC interpolation formula will prove useful in the coarse-graining of wormlike chain models for dynamic simulations. Related results for the excess free energy due to excluded volume provide strong support for the physical basis of the Pincus regime.

Graphical abstract: Modeling the stretching of wormlike chains in the presence of excluded volume

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 May 2015
Accepted
23 Jun 2015
First published
24 Jun 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2015,11, 5947-5954

Author version available

Modeling the stretching of wormlike chains in the presence of excluded volume

X. Li, C. M. Schroeder and K. D. Dorfman, Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 5947 DOI: 10.1039/C5SM01333J

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