Dynamics of wormlike and glassy wormlike chains

Abstract

The wormlike chain (WLC) is a mathematical minimal model that captures universal aspects of the statistical mechanics and dynamics of stiff and semiflexible fibers. Its applications comprise all kinds of biopolymers from polysaccharides through cytoskeletal proteins to DNA, but also some synthetic polymers, wormlike micelles, and carbon nanotubes. The static force–extension relation of the WLC is today routinely applied to the design and interpretation of single molecule experiments. Its rich predictions for single molecule dynamics and ensuing consequences for networks and entangled solutions, such as those giving strength and power to your own body, are in the focus of ongoing research summarized below. The glassy wormlike chain (GWLC), a recent phenomenological extension of the WLC, aspires to link the highly universal viscoelastic equilbirum dynamics of sticky fiber networks to the physical properties of their microscopic constituents.