Abstract
The effect of thermal fluctuations on the statistical properties of thin elastic filaments with spontaneous curvature and torsion was studied. Differential equations for the orientational correlation functions of the vectors pointing along the principal axes of the filament were derived and used to calculate the correlators and the effective persistence length of an untwisted helix. Analytical expressions for the persistence length of a spontaneously twisted helix were derived. It was found that this length varies nonmonotonically with the amplitude of fluctuations and exhibits resonantlike dependence on the rate of twist.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2404-2407 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 11 Sep 2000 |