Characteristics of the polymer transport in ratchet systems
Abstract
Molecules with complex internal structure in time-dependent periodic potentials are studied by using short
Rubinstein-Duke model polymers as an example. We extend our earlier work on transport in stochastically
varying potentials to cover also deterministic potential switching mechanisms, energetic efficiency, and nonuniform
charge distributions. We also use currents in the nonequilibrium steady state to identify the dominating
mechanisms that lead to polymer transportation and analyze the evolution of the macroscopic state e.g., total
and head-to-head lengths of the polymers. Several numerical methods are used to solve the master equations
and nonlinear optimization problems. The dominating transport mechanisms are found via graph optimization
methods. The results show that small changes in the molecule structure and the environment variables can lead
to large increases of the drift. The drift and the coherence can be amplified by using deterministic flashing
potentials and customized polymer charge distributions. Identifying the dominating transport mechanism by
graph analysis tools is found to give insight in how the molecule is transported by the ratchet effect.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2010
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201508202712Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1539-3755
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.81.041112
Language
English
Published in
Physical Review E
Citation
- Kauttonen, J., & Merikoski, J. (2010). Characteristics of the polymer transport in ratchet systems. Physical Review E, 81, 41112. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.81.041112
Copyright© 2010 The American Physical Society. Published in this repository with the kind permission of the publisher.