Abstract
Aggregation of like-charged polymers is widely observed in biological- and soft-matter systems. In many systems, bundles are formed when a short-range attraction of diverse physical origin like charge bridging, hydrogen bonding or hydrophobic interaction, overcomes the longer-range charge repulsion. In this letter, we present a general mechanism of bundle formation in these systems as the breaking of the translational invariance in parallel aligned polymers with competing interactions of this type. We derive a criterion for finite-sized bundle formation as well as for macroscopic phase separation (formation of infinite bundles).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 28001 |
| Journal | Europhysics Letters |
| Volume | 114 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2016 |