Conformational transitions in random heteropolymer models
Abstract
We study the conformational properties of heteropolymers containing two types of monomers A and B, modeled as self-avoiding random walks on a regular lattice. Such a model can describe in particular the sequences of hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues in proteins (K.F. Lau and K.A. Dill, Macromolecules 22, 3986 (1989)) and polyampholytes with oppositely charged groups (Y. Kantor and M. Kardar, Europhys. Lett. 28, 169 (1994)). Treating the sequences of the two types of monomers as quenched random variables, we provide a systematic analysis of possible generalizations of this model. To this end we apply the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth chain-growth algorithm (PERM), which allows us to obtain the phase diagrams of extended and compact states coexistence as function of both the temperature and fraction of A and B monomers along the heteropolymer chain.
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