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Degrees of Chirality in Helical Structures
Author(s) -
Raos Guido
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3919(20020901)11:7<739::aid-mats739>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - chirality (physics) , helix (gastropod) , function (biology) , radius , ribbon , radius of gyration , molecular physics , physics , mathematics , geometry , polymer , nuclear magnetic resonance , quantum mechanics , quantum chromodynamics , evolutionary biology , snail , computer science , nambu–jona lasinio model , biology , ecology , chiral symmetry breaking , computer security
Long helical structures occur in both natural and synthetic polymers. Their “degree of chirality” is quantified through the calculation of an overlap‐based chirality index and an infinite hierarchy of pseudoscalar parameters. It is shown that these quantities are related, since they may be constructed from a common set of cylindrical Fourier coefficients. The formal analysis is illustrated by the application to helical ribbons. It is found that the chirality of helical ribbons is a monotonically increasing function of the ratio h / a and a decreasing function of the ratio τ/a , where h and a are the pitch and the radius of the helix, whereas τ is the height of the ribbon. Chirality achieves a maximum asymptotic value as h → ∞.