Logo der Universität Wien
You are here:>University of Vienna >Faculty of Physics>Vienna Computational Materials Laboratory

Cluster Glasses of Semiflexible Ring Polymers

A talk by Angel Moreno, Centro de Fisica de Materiales (CSIC-University of the Basque Country), San Sebastian, Spain

Monday, December 1st 2014, 4:00 p.m.
Seminar Room 138C, Vienna University of Technology, "Freihaus"‐ building, 9th floor, "yellow" – Wiedner Hauptstraße 8‐10, A‐1040 Vienna, AUSTRIA

 

ABSTRACT: We present computer simulations of concentrated solutions of unknotted nonconcatenated semiflexible ring polymers. Unlike in their flexible counterparts, shrinking involves a strong energetic penalty, favoring interpenetration and clustering of the rings. We investigate the slow dynamics of the centers-of-mass of the rings in the amorphous cluster phase, consisting of disordered columns of oblate rings penetrated by bundles of prolate ones. Scattering functions reveal a striking decoupling of self- and collective motions. Correlations between centers-of-mass exhibit slow relaxation, as expected for an incipient glass transition, indicating the dynamic arrest of the cluster positions. However, self-correlations decay at much shorter time scales. This feature is a manifestation of the fast, continuous exchange and diffusion of the individual rings over the matrix of clusters. Our results reveal a novel scenario of glass formation in a simple monodisperse system, characterized by self-collective decoupling, soft caging, and mild dynamic heterogeneity.

Angel Moreno

VIENNA COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS LABORATORY

Sensengasse 8/12
A-1090 Vienna
AUSTRIA
T: +43-1-4277-51401
F: +43-1-4277-9514
E-Mail
University of Vienna | Universitätsring 1 | 1010 Vienna | T +43-1-4277-0
Lastupdate: 07.10.2015 - 16:42