# Forcing a polymer out of a potential well

Kumar, Keshav and Sebastian, KL (2002) Forcing a polymer out of a potential well. In: Chemical Physics Letters, 359 (1-2). pp. 101-108.

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## Abstract

We consider the forced escape of a polymer out of a potential well. The process has two steps – crossing the activation barrier, and translocation of the chain over the barrier. We suggest that translocation occurs by the motion of a kink, whose shape and velocity change as more and more beads of the polymer have come out of the potential well. We find that for short polymers, the translocation time $t_{trans}{\sim}\hspace{2mm}ln(n_0)$, where n0 is the number of beads that have crossed the barrier. For long chains, the translocation time $\sim$N, the total number of beads.

Item Type: Journal Article Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier. Division of Chemical Sciences > Inorganic & Physical Chemistry 02 Jun 2006 19 Sep 2010 04:28 http://eprints.iisc.ernet.in/id/eprint/7387