Dr. Robijn Bruinsma
University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Monday, November 3, 1997
3:00 pm (CT)
3269 Beckman Institute

Abstract

The classical Poisson-Boltzmann interaction predicts that the electrostatic interaction between DNA strands is repulsive. DNA is indeed soluble in aqueous media in the presence of mono-valent salt. Small amounts of poly-valent ions produce condensation phenomena which are believed to play an important role for DNA compaction in viruses and bacteria and which violates the Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Numerical simulations will be presented which demonstrate that these condensation phenomena are due to the build of strong, short-range correlations between ions inside the Manning layer, leading to formation of a Wigner crystal.

Tea and coffee will be served in R3151 Beckman Institute at 2:15pm.