Periodically driven DNA: Theory and simulation.

Abstract

We propose a generic model of driven DNA under the influence of an oscillatory force of amplitude F and frequency ν and show the existence of a dynamical transition for a chain of finite length. We find that the area of the hysteresis loop, A_{loop}, scales with the same exponents as observed in a recent study based on a much more detailed model. However, towards the true thermodynamic limit, the high-frequency scaling regime extends to lower frequencies for larger chain length L and the system has only one scaling (A_{loop}≈ν^{-1}F^{2}). Expansion of an analytical expression for A_{loop} obtained for the model system in the low-force regime revealed that there is a new scaling exponent associated with force (A_{loop}≈ν^{-1}F^{2.5}), which has been validated by high-precision numerical calculation. By a combination of analytical and numerical arguments, we also deduce that for large but finite L, the exponents are robust and independent of temperature and friction coefficient.