| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 37, Number 9, March 1997
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 603 - 608 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1997-00197-2 | |
| Published online | 01 September 2002 | |
From collapse to freezing in random heteropolymers
1
Facultad de Física, P. Universidad Católica de Chile - Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
2
Institute of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Received:
11
October
1996
Accepted:
7
February
1997
We consider a two-letter self-avoiding (square) lattice heteropolymer model of
NH (out of N) attracting sites.
At zero temperature, permanent links are formed leading to collapse
structures for any fraction 
. The
average chain size scales as 
(d is the space dimension).
As 
, 
with 
for d=2.
Moreover, for 
, entropy per monomer approaches zero
as 
(being finite for a homopolymer).
An abrupt decrease in entropy occurs at the phase boundary between
the swollen (
) and collapsed region.
Scaling arguments predict
different regimes depending on the ensemble of crosslinks. Some
implications to the
protein folding problem are discussed.
PACS: 05.70.Fh – Phase transitions: general aspects / 82.35.+t – Polymer reactions and polymerization / 61.41.+e – Polymers, elastomers, and plastics
© EDP Sciences, 1997
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