Branched Semiflexible Polymers: Theoretical and Simulation Aspects

Recent approaches for taking stiffness effects into account when modeling multifunctional polymer structures are reported. The theoretical part is focused on arbitrary tree-like polymers, modeled through extensions of the GGS scheme that allows the inclusion of local constraints. The theoretical findings are compared to the results of numerical simulations in which stiffness is included into the bond fluctuation model with the help of additional bending potentials. The procedure is illustrated by evaluating the static properties of semiflexible linear chains, stars, cospectral polymers and rings. The dynamical properties are exemplified by the mechanical relaxation of semiflexible polymers, including situations in which the local conditions at different sites are the same or different.