Adsorption-Freezing Transition for Random Heteropolymers near Disordered 2D Manifolds due to “Pattern Matching”

Abstract

We study the simplest model for random heteropolymers near chemically disordered surfaces, and predict a new phenomenon that may have implications for pattern recognition applications. As the strength of surface fluctuations increases a smooth adsorption transition occurs first, with a multitude of chain conformations being sampled. More interestingly, beyond a larger threshold value of the strength of surface fluctuations, a sharp second adsorption transition is observed that is accompanied by the polymer freezing into a few dominant conformations that match the pattern of the surface fluctuations.