STATISTICAL-MECHANICS OF DOUBLE-STRANDED SEMIFLEXIBLE POLYMERS

We study the statistical mechanics of double-stranded semiflexible pol ymers using both analytical techniques and simulation. We find a trans ition at some finite temperature, from a type of short range order to a fundamentally different sort of short range order. In the high tempe rature regime, the two-point correlation functions of the object are i dentical to wormlike chains, while at low temperatures they are differ ent due to a twist structure. In the low temperature phase, the polyme rs develop a kink-rod structure which could clarify some recent puzzli ng experiments on actin.