Phys. Rev. E 81, 021921 (2010) - Microscopic formulation of the Zimm-Bragg model for the helix-coil transition

Microscopic formulation of the Zimm-Bragg model for the helix-coil transition

A. V. Badasyan, A. Giacometti, Y. Sh. Mamasakhlisov, V. F. Morozov, and A. S. Benight

Phys. Rev. E 81, 021921 – Published 23 February 2010

Abstract

A microscopic spin model is proposed for the phenomenological Zimm-Bragg model for the helix-coil transition in biopolymers. This model is shown to provide the same thermophysical properties of the original Zimm-Bragg model and it allows a very convenient framework to compute statistical quantities. Physical origins of this spin model are made transparent by an exact mapping into a one-dimensional Ising model with an external field. However, the dependence on temperature of the reduced external field turns out to differ from the standard one-dimensional Ising model and hence it gives rise to different thermophysical properties, despite the exact mapping connecting them. We discuss how this point has been frequently overlooked in the recent literature.

Received 23 June 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.81.021921

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. V. Badasyan^* and A. Giacometti^†

Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica, Universita Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Calle Larga S. Marta DD2137, I-30123 Venezia, Italy

Y. Sh. Mamasakhlisov and V. F. Morozov^‡

Department of Molecular Physics, Yerevan State University, A. Manougian Str.1, 375025, Yerevan, Armenia

A. S. Benight^§

Departments of Chemistry and Physics, Portland State University, 1719 S.W. 10th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97207-0751, USA

^*artem.badasyan@unive.it
^†achille@unive.it
^‡morozov@ysu.am
^§abenight@pdx.edu

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Vol. 81, Iss. 2 — February 2010

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