We study the statistical mechanics of double-stranded semiflexible polymers using both analytical techniques and simulation. We find a transition at some finite temperature, from a type of short range order to a fundamentally different sort of short range order. In the high temperature regime, the two-point correlation functions of the object are identical to wormlike chains, while at low temperatures they are different due to a twist structure. In the low temperature phase, the polymers develop a kink-rod structure which could clarify some recent puzzling experiments on actin.

• Received 14 April 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.405