Hysteresis loop area scaling exponents in DNA unzipping by a periodic force: A Langevin dynamics simulation study

Abstract

Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we study the hysteresis in unzipping of longer double stranded DNA chains whose ends are subjected to a time dependent periodic force with frequency $\omega$ and amplitude $G$ keeping the other end fixed. We find that the area of the hysteresis loop, $A_{loop}$, scales as $1/\omega$ at higher frequencies, whereas it scales as $(G-G_c)^{\alpha}\omega^{\beta}$ with exponents $\alpha=1$ and $\beta=1.25$ in the low frequency regime. These values are same as the exponents obtained in Monte Carlo simulation studies of a directed self avoiding walk model of a homopolymer DNA [R. Kapri, Phys. Rev. E 90, 062719 (2014)], and the block copolymer DNA [R. K. Yadav and R. Kapri, Phys. Rev. E 103, 012413 (2021)] on a square lattice, and differs from the values reported earlier using Langevin dynamics simulation studies on a much shorter DNA hairpins.