Ejection dynamics of a ring polymer out of a nanochannel

Abstract

We investigate the ejection dynamics of a ring polymer out of a cylindrical nanochannel using both theoretical analysis and three dimensional Langevin dynamics simulations. The ejection dynamics for ring polymers shows two regimes like for linear polymers, depending on the relative length of the chain compared with the channel. For long chains with length $N$ larger than the critical chain length $N_{c}$, at which the chain just fully occupies the nanochannel, the ejection for ring polymers is faster compared with linear chains of identical length due to a larger entropic pulling force; while for short chains ($N<N_c$), it takes longer time for ring polymers to eject out of the channel due to a longer distance to be diffused to reach the exit of the channel before experiencing the entropic pulling force. These results can help understand many biological processes, such as bacterial chromosome segregation.