Unzipping DNA by force: thermodynamics and finite size behaviour

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We discuss the thermodynamic behaviour near the force induced unzipping transition of a double stranded DNA in two different ensembles. The Y-fork is identified as the coexisting phases in the fixed distance ensemble. From finite size scaling of thermodynamic quantities like the extensibility, the length of the unzipped segment of a Y-fork, the phase diagram can be recovered. We suggest that such procedures could be used to obtain the thermodynamic phase diagram from experiments on finite length DNA.
10 pages, accepted for publication in special issue of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

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