# Different pathways in mechanical unfolding/folding cycle of a single semiflexible polymer

Source: [Different pathways in mechanical unfolding/folding cycle of a single semiflexible polymer](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa26882c2a3760193bad8d>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T11:26:10.053Z

Authors: Natsuhiko Yoshinaga, Kenichi Yoshikawa, Takao Ohta

Published: 2004-10-09T14:12:55.000Z

## Abstract

Kinetics of conformational change of a semiflexible polymer under mechanical external field were investigated with Langevin dynamics simulations. It is found that a semiflexible polymer exhibits large hysteresis in mechanical folding/unfolding cycle even with a slow operation, whereas in a flexible polymer, the hysteresis almost disappears at a sufficiently slow operation. This suggests that the essential features of the structural transition of a semiflexible polymer should be interpreted at least on a two-dimensional phase space. The appearance of such large hysteresis is discussed in relation to different pathways in the loading and unloading processes. By using a minimal two-variable model, the hysteresis loop is described in terms of different pathways on the transition between two stable states.

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## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0410226>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0410226.pdf>)