1205.6125 (Daniel Santos-Oliván et al.)

Directional motion of forced polymer chains with hydrodynamic
interaction    [PDF]

Daniel Santos-Oliván, Alessandro Fiasconaro, Fernando Falo

We study the propulsion of 1d polymer chain under sinusoidal external forces in the overdamped (low Reynolds number) regime. We show that, when hydrodynamical interactions are included, the polymer presents directional motion which depends on the phase differences of the external force applied along the chain. Moreover, the velocity shows a maximum as a function of the frequency. We discuss the relevance of all these results in the light of recent nanotechnology experiments.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.6125