Eur. Phys. J. E 9, 63-66 (2002)
DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2002-10056-6

Polymer collapse in the presence of hydrodynamic interactions

N. Kikuchi, A. Gent and J.M. Yeomans

Department of Physics, Theoretical Physics, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK

n.kikuchi1@physics.oxford.ac.uk

(Received 18 February 2002 and Received in final form 28 August 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002)

Abstract
We investigate numerically the dynamical behaviour of a polymer chain collapsing in a dilute solution. The rate of collapse is measured with and without the presence of hydrodynamic interactions. We find that hydrodynamic interactions both accelerate polymer collapse and alter the folding pathway.

PACS
83.80.Rs - Polymer solutions.
82.20.Wt - Computational modeling; simulation.
82.35.Lr - Physical properties of polymers.

© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002