21 May 2024, 11:00
Active Polymers in Complex and Crowded Environments: Unraveling Transport and Elastic Properties
AbstractHighly entangled polymers a topic that has been extensively studied in the realm of equilibrium polymer physics Adding an active component to drive the system far from equilibrium represents a significant advancement in exploring the interplay between entanglement and activity in polymer like entities 1 2 3 This exploration is crucial for establishing a comprehensive understanding of... AbstractHighly entangled polymers—a topic that has been extensively studied in the realm of equilibrium polymer physics. Adding an active component to drive the system far from equilibrium represents a significant advancement in exploring the interplay between entanglement and activity in polymer-like entities [1,2,3]. This exploration is crucial for establishing a comprehensive understanding of living systems across various scales. Examples include cell cytoskeletons, bacterial colonies, and worms, where entanglement and activity profoundly influence their behavior and responses to environmental cues. Furthermore, this extends to the field of bio-inspired engineering, where soft robotic grippers strategically deploy active filaments for object capture. In my talk, I will present the transport and elastic properties of such systems. First, we explore the intricate interplay of...
Speaker(s): Suvendu Mandal, Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, Germany
Host: Filipe Nunes
Place: Small Operon
External Faculty Speaker
EMBL Heidelberg
Additional information
Abstract
Highly entangled polymers—a topic that has been extensively studied in the realm of equilibrium polymer physics. Adding an active component to drive the system far from equilibrium represents a significant advancement in exploring the interplay between entanglement and activity in polymer-like entities [1,2,3]. This exploration is crucial for establishing a comprehensive understanding of living systems across various scales. Examples include cell cytoskeletons, bacterial colonies, and worms, where entanglement and activity profoundly influence their behavior and responses to environmental cues. Furthermore, this extends to the field of bio-inspired engineering, where soft robotic grippers strategically deploy active filaments for object capture.
In my talk, I will present the transport and elastic properties of such systems. First, we explore the intricate interplay of crowding and self-propulsion in stiff filaments via Brownian dynamics simulations. Contrary to the well-studied 'crowded is slower' phenomenon observed in various fields, such as colloidal glasses and crowd evacuation, we discover a remarkable enhancement in the diffusivity of self-propelled anisotropic agents like biofilaments and elongated bacteria due to crowding [1]. To explain this behavior, we extend the Doi and Edwards' tube concept to active systems, establishing a crucial link through our scaling theory between effective diffusivity, the Péclet number, and filament density.
Second, we delve into the viscoelastic properties of highly entangled, flexible, self-propelled polymers through simulations. Our findings reveal a novel scaling law for elasticity, $G_0 \sim L$, where $L$ represents the polymer length, challenging conventional understandings of polymer behavior [2]. These insights into activity-enhanced elasticity hold significant promise for collective life forms, including bacterial colonies and California blackworms, potentially providing resistance to environmental stresses.
[1] S. Mandal, C. Kurzthaler, T. Franosch, and H. Löwen, Physical Review Letters, 125, 138002 (2020).
[2] D. Breoni, C. Kurzthaler, B. Liebchen, and H. Löwen, and S. Mandal, arXiv:2310.02929 (2023).
[3] C. Kurzthaler, S. Mandal, T. Bhattacharjee, H. Löwen, S. S. Datta, and H. Stone, Nature Communications, 12, 7088 (2021).
About the speaker
Researcher at the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics (IPKM) in TU Darmstadt
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