We study the motion of dispersed nanoprobes in entangled active–passive polymer mixtures. By comparing the two architectures of linear vs. unconcatenated and unknotted circular polymers{,} we demonstrate that novel{,} rich physics emerge. For both polymer architectures{,} nanoprobes of size smaller than the entanglement threshold of the solution move faster as activity is increased and more energy is pumped in the system. For larger nanoprobes{,} a surprising phenomenon occurs: while in linear solutions they move qualitatively as before{,} in active–passive ring solutions nanoprobes decelerate with respect to the purely passive conditions. We rationalize this effect in terms of the non-equilibrium{,} topology-dependent association (clustering) of nanoprobes to the cold component of the ring mixture reminiscent of the recently discovered [Weber et al.{,} Phys. Rev. Lett.{,} 2016{,} 116{,} 058301] phase separation in scalar active–passive mixtures. We conclude with a potential connection to the microrheology of the chromatin in the nuclei of the cells.

Nanorheology of active–passive polymer mixtures differentiates between linear and ring polymer topology / Papale, Andrea; Smrek, Jan; Rosa, Angelo. - In: SOFT MATTER. - ISSN 1744-683X. - 17:30(2021), pp. 7111-7117. [10.1039/D1SM00665G]

Nanorheology of active–passive polymer mixtures differentiates between linear and ring polymer topology

Angelo Rosa
Membro del Collaboration group
2021-01-01

Abstract

We study the motion of dispersed nanoprobes in entangled active–passive polymer mixtures. By comparing the two architectures of linear vs. unconcatenated and unknotted circular polymers{,} we demonstrate that novel{,} rich physics emerge. For both polymer architectures{,} nanoprobes of size smaller than the entanglement threshold of the solution move faster as activity is increased and more energy is pumped in the system. For larger nanoprobes{,} a surprising phenomenon occurs: while in linear solutions they move qualitatively as before{,} in active–passive ring solutions nanoprobes decelerate with respect to the purely passive conditions. We rationalize this effect in terms of the non-equilibrium{,} topology-dependent association (clustering) of nanoprobes to the cold component of the ring mixture reminiscent of the recently discovered [Weber et al.{,} Phys. Rev. Lett.{,} 2016{,} 116{,} 058301] phase separation in scalar active–passive mixtures. We conclude with a potential connection to the microrheology of the chromatin in the nuclei of the cells.
2021
17
30
7111
7117
Papale, Andrea; Smrek, Jan; Rosa, Angelo
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11767/124149
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