Scaling regimes of a semi-flexible polymer in a rectangular channel
Abstract
We derive scaling relations for the extension statistics and the confinement free energy for a semi-flexible polymer confined to a channel with a rectangular cross-section. Our motivation are recent numerical results [Gupta et al., JCP 140 (2014) 214901] indicating that extensional fluctuations are quite different in rectangular channels compared to square channels. Our results are of direct relevance for interpreting current experiments on DNA molecules confined to nano-channels, as many experiments are performed for rectangular channels with large aspect ratios while theoretical and simulation results are usually obtained for square channels.
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