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Anomalous dewetting dynamics in active entangled polymer films: Semiflexible chains
Phys. Rev. E 114, 055411 – Published 12 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8f5t-nwwd
Abstract
Dewetting of a thin polymer film probes the stress and mobility frozen in during preparation. A companion theory showed that self-propulsion enhances the elastic modulus of flexible active films through grip forces at entanglements. Here I derive the semiflexible case relevant to biological filaments. Because a semiflexible chain reorients along its tube, grip forces from successive segments add in quadrature. At fixed persistence length and propulsion strength, this changes the activity parameter (the ratio of active to passive plateau modulus) from to in the chain contour length , and the active viscosity from to , a scaling class lying between the passive and flexible active melts. The biexponential relaxation is retained; an exact relation between the fast-channel weight and renders three observables stiffness-independent, while the kink in sequential nucleation and hole growth dynamics fixes the propulsion speed alone, while its amplitude ratio returns the activity parameter and hence the stiffness. A parameter-free wormlike-chain numerical simulation confirms the quadrature scaling and its crossover to the coherent limit, and published T. Tubifex worm rheology qualitatively supports the two-channel picture.
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