| Issue |
EPL
Volume 85, Number 1, January 2009
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 10008 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/85/10008 | |
| Published online | 21 January 2009 | |
Helix or coil? Fate of a melting heteropolymer
1
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, Université Pierre et Marie Curie 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris, France, EU
2
Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University - Boston, MA 02215 USA
Corresponding author: oshanin@lptmc.jussieu.fr
Received:
30
October
2008
Accepted:
8
December
2008
We study the probability that a partially melted heteropolymer at the melting temperature will either melt completely or return to a helix state. This system is equivalent to the splitting probability for a diffusing particle on a finite interval that moves according to the Sinai model. When the initial fraction of melted polymer is g, the melting probability fluctuates between different realizations of monomer arrangements on the chain. For a fixed value of g, the melting probability distribution changes from unimodal to a bimodal as the strength of the disorder is increased.
PACS: 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion / 02.50.Cw – Probability theory / 87.15.hp – Conformational changes
© EPLA, 2009
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