Nonsymmetric moving breather collisions in the Peyrard-Bishop DNA model

Abstract

We study nonsymmetric collisions of moving breathers (MBs) in the Peyrard-Bishop DNA model. In this paper we have considered the following types of nonsymmetric collisions: head-on collisions of two breathers traveling with different velocities; collisions of moving breathers with a stationary trapped breather; and collisions of moving breathers traveling with the same direction. The various main observed phenomena are: one moving breather gets trapped at the collision region, and the other one is reflected; breather fusion without trapping, with the appearance of a new moving breather; and breather generation without trapping, with the appearance of new moving breathers traveling either with the same or different directions. For comparison we have included some results of a previous paper concerning to symmetric collisions, where two identical moving breathers traveling with opposite velocities collide. For symmetric collisions, the main observed phenomena are: breather generation with trapping, with the appearance of two new moving breathers with opposite velocities and a stationary breather trapped at the collision region; and breather generation without trapping, with the appearance of new moving breathers with opposite velocities. A common feature for all types of collisions is that the collision outcome depends on the internal structure of the moving breathers and the exact number of pair-bases that initially separates the stationary breathers when they are perturbed. As some nonsymmetric collisions result in the generation of a new stationary trapped breather of larger energy, the trapping phenomenon could play an important part of the complex mechanisms involved in the initiation of the DNA transcription processes.