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Anomalous Critical Slowdown at a First Order Phase Transition in Single Polymer Chains

Anomalous Critical Slowdown at a First Order Phase Transition in Single Polymer Chains

Authors :
Zhang, Shuangshuang
Qi, Shuanhu
Klushin, Leonid I.
Skvortsov, Alexander M.
Yan, Dadong
Schmid, Friederike
Source :
J. Chem. Phys. 147, 064902, 2017
Publication Year :
2018

Abstract

Using Brownian Dynamics, we study the dynamical behavior of a polymer grafted onto an adhesive surface close to the mechanically induced adsorption-stretching transition. Even though the transition is first order, (in the infinite chain length limit, the stretching degree of the chain jumps discontinuously), the characteristic relaxation time is found to grow according to a power law as the transition point is approached. We present a dynamic effective interface model which reproduces these observations and provides an excellent quantitaive description of the simulations data. The generic nature of the theoretical model suggests that the unconventional mixing of features that are characteristic for first-order transitions (a jump in an order parameter) and features that are characteristic of critical points (anomalous slowdown) may be a common phenomenon in force-driven phase transitions of macromolecules.<br />Comment: 5 figures

Details

Database :
arXiv
Journal :
J. Chem. Phys. 147, 064902, 2017
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.1803.00770
Document Type :
Working Paper
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4997435