Dynamics of folding in semiflexible filaments.

The dynamics of a single semiflexible filament under the action of a compressing force is simulated. We find that the filament folds asymmetrically with a folding length which depends only on the bending stiffness kappa and the applied force f. It is shown that this behavior can be attributed to the exponentially falling tension profile in the filament. While the folding time tau(0) depends on the initial configuration, the distance moved by the terminal point of the filament and the length of the fold scales as tau(1/2) at tau>>tau(0) and is independent of the initial configuration.