The DNA electronic specific heat at low temperature: The role of aperiodicity

• Published in: Physics letters. A Vol. 376; no. 35; pp. 2413 - 2417
• Main Authors: Sarmento, R.G., Mendes, G.A., Albuquerque, E.L., Fulco, U.L., Vasconcelos, M.S., Ujsághy, O., Freire, V.N., Caetano, E.W.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 16-07-2012
• Subjects: DNA molecule; Electronic density of states; Electronic specific heat; Quasiperiodic structures; DNA molecule; Quasiperiodic structures; Electronic density of states; Electronic specific heat
• ISSN: 0375-9601; 1873-2429
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2012.05.058

The electronic specific heat spectra at constant volume (CV) of a long-range correlated extended ladder model, mimicking a DNA molecule, is theoretically analyzed for a stacked array of a double-stranded structure made up from the nucleotides guanine G, adenine A, cytosine C and thymine T. The role of the aperiodicity on CV is discussed, considering two different nucleotide arrangements with increasing disorder, namely the Fibonacci and the Rudin–Shapiro quasiperiodic structures. Comparisons are made for different values of the band fillings, considering also a finite segment of natural DNA, as part of the human chromosome Ch22.
► Quasiperiodic sequence to mimic the DNA nucleotides arrangement. ► Electronic tight-binding Hamiltonian model. ► Electronic density of states. ► Electronic specific heat spectra.