Free energy evaluation in polymer translocation via Jarzynski equality

• We investigate unbiased polymer translocation through membrane pores.
• Large statistical ensembles have been produced with cloud computing resources.
• We employ the Jarzynski equality in its rigorous setting.
• We compute the variation of the free energy in single monomer translocation events.
• Free energy profile is noted to have interesting finite-size scaling properties.

We perform, with the help of cloud computing resources, extensive Langevin simulations, which provide free energy estimates for unbiased three-dimensional polymer translocation. We employ the Jarzynski equality in its rigorous setting, to compute the variation of the free energy in single monomer translocation events. In our three-dimensional Langevin simulations, the excluded-volume and van der Waals interactions between beads (monomers and membrane atoms) are modeled through a repulsive Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential and consecutive monomers are subject to the Finite-Extension Nonlinear Elastic (FENE) potential. Analysing data for polymers with different lengths, the free energy profile is noted to have interesting finite-size scaling properties.