Helical structures from an isotropic homopolymer model

James E. Magee, Victor R. Vasquez, Leo Lue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present Monte Carlo simulation results for square-well homopolymers at a series of bond lengths. Although the model contains only isotropic pairwise interactions, under appropriate conditions this system shows spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, where the chain exists in either a left- or a right-handed helical structure. We investigate how this behavior depends upon the ratio between bond length and monomer radius.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207802
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume96
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 May 2006

Keywords

  • Monte Carlo simulation
  • homopolymers
  • helical structures

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Helical structures from an isotropic homopolymer model'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this