Coil-to-globule collapse of active polymers: a Rouse perspective

Abstract

We derive an effective Rouse model for tangentially active polymers, characterised by a constant active force tangent to their backbone. In particular, we show that, once extended to account for finite bending rigidity, such active Rouse model captures the reduction in the gyration radius, or coil-to-globule-like transition, that has been observed numerically in the literature for such active filaments. Interestingly, our analysis identifies the proper definition of the Peclet number, that allows to collapse all numerical data onto a master curve.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Polymers
• active matter
• active polymers

Acknowledgments

Our article is part of the Special Issue in honour of Giovanni Ciccotti's birthday. We are very honoured to have had the possibility to meet him and discuss several scientific issues with him. Even though we have never directly collaborated, Giovanni has always been a source of inspiration for all of us, and for several generations of scientists.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data presented in this contribution can be found here: 10.5281/zenodo.10931600

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Notes

1 In this example we assume that the diffusiophoretic Janus particles are in the reaction-limited regime within which diffusion is so fast as compared to the reaction rate that density gradients can be neglected and hence the ‘phoretic’ interactions [67] between colloids can be disregarded.

Additional information

Funding

E. Locatelli acknowledges support from the MIUR grant Rita Levi Montalcini. C.V acknowledges funding from MINECO grants C.V. acknowledges fundings IHRC22/00002 and PID2022-140407NB-C21 from MINECO.