Activity-Induced Collapse and Arrest of Active Polymer Rings

E Locatelli and V Bianco and P Malgaretti, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 126, 097801 (2021).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.097801

We investigate, using numerical simulations, the conformations of isolated active ring polymers. We find that their behavior depends crucially on their size: Short rings (N less than or similar to 100) swell, whereas longer rings (N greater than or similar to 200) collapse, at sufficiently high activity. By investigating the nonequilibrium process leading to the steady state, we find a universal route driving both outcomes; we highlight the central role of steric interactions, at variance with linear chains, and of topology conservation. We further show that the collapsed rings are arrested by looking at different observables, all underlining the presence of an extremely long timescales at the steady state, associated with the internal dynamics of the collapsed section. Finally, we found that in some circumstances the collapsed state spins about its axis.

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