An incremental mean first passage analysis for a quasistatic model of polymer translocation through a nanopore

For the translocation of a polymer through a nanopore, a quasistatic assumption for the dynamics yields a tractable form for the entropic barrier. Although this is a much simplified model, interesting features such as robust scaling emerge from its application. To explore these details, we present a method of mapping the translocation process as an incremental mean first passage problem. In this approach, the quantity of interest is the average first time t(0) at which the polymer achieves a displacement of Delta s in the translocation coordinate s. Constructing scenarios with different initial conditions and boundary conditions, analytic and exact numerical approaches are used to resolve the dynamics of translocation in detail and generate new insight into the nature of the entropic barrier. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3580769]