Conformational properties of active polar semiflexible phantom polymers

Abstract

The conformational properties of semiflexible active polar linear and ring phantom polymers are analyzed analytically to shed light on their dependence on activity. Special attention is paid to the influence of the implemented bond force for discrete and continuous polymer models. In detail, the Gaussian semiflexible polymer model and a model with a harmonic bond potential with finite bond length are considered. The studies reveal the immanent effects of the particular bond model on the polymer conformations as well as on the discrete or continuous representation. For continuum models, activity implies polymer end effects only, whereas for discrete models, all bonds can contribute to activity-dependent conformational changes. Ring polymers lack end effects; hence, continuous rings exhibit the same conformations as passive polymers. Similarly, the conformations of inextensible continuous polymers (Kratky–Porod worm-like chain) are activity-independent. These findings are in contrast to passive polymers, where a wide spectrum of bond potentials capture their generic features. Hence, this universality is broken by activity, and a model must be carefully selected to capture the characteristics observed in experiments.