Physics – Condensed Matter – Statistical Mechanics
Scientific paper
2002-06-19
Phys. Rev. E 67, 011805 (2003)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
13 pages, 2 ps figures
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.67.011805
The persistence length of a single, intrinsically rigid polyelectrolyte chain, above the Manning condensation threshold is investigated theoretically in presence of added salt. Using a loop expansion method, the partition function is consistently calculated, taking into account corrections to mean-field theory. Within a mean-field approximation, the well-known results of Odijk, Skolnick and Fixman are reproduced. Beyond mean-field, it is found that density correlations between counterions and thermal fluctuations reduce the stiffness of the chain, indicating an effective attraction between monomers for highly charged chains and multivalent counterions. This attraction results in a possible mechanical instability (collapse), alluding to the phenomenon of DNA condensation. In addition, we find that more counterions condense on slightly bent conformations of the chain than predicted by the Manning model for the case of an infinite cylinder. Finally, our results are compared with previous models and experiments.
Andelman David
Ariel Gil
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