Figure 3. Higher-order domains and symmetry breaking architectures.

(a) We consider a block-copolymer composed of red and green binding domains which spontaneously folds, from an initially SAW conformation, in the ordered closed state of Fig. 1 (here c = 54 nmol/l and E_int = 4.1 k_BT). The process is marked by a decrease of the gyration radius, R_g(t), in time (bottom panel) and by the formation of a hierarchy of higher-order domains, as reflected by the contact matrix pattern (top). (b) Pairs of sites with the same contour separation, differently positioned across a block boundary (see bottom panel), have the same average physical distances, r, in the open phase. Yet, in the closed states, the symmetry is broken by their different position relative to the boundary as the two pairs have a different physical distance, as seen from the corresponding distributions of r (from left to right E_int = 4.1, 3.1, 0 k_BT, and c = 54 nmol/l).