Anisotropic dynamic response of stiff biopolymers

We have analyzed the dynamic response of stiff polymers under different force protocols, such as the sudden onset/release of a longitudinal or transverse point forces. In these non-equilibrium situations, an ordinary small gradient expansion fails to describe the Brownian motion of stiff polymers in the limit of short times due to the neglect of tension dynamics. We present an improved (multiple scale) perturbation theory unravelling the underlying nonlinear phenomenon that renders the short time dynamics quite complex. The polymer’s response exhibits asymptotic power law behaviour with distinct dynamic exponents that depend on the experimental scenario and the time regime.