Figure 3. Snapshots of our Brownian dynamics simulations.
The state of the system in each of the four different regimes identified in our mathematical model are illustrated: (a) initial plateau c∝t0, (b) reaction-limited regime c∝t−3, (c) diffusion-limited regime c∝t−1 and (d) blocked regime c∝t0. To facilitate visualization despite order of magnitude changes in filament concentrations, each of the four panels is taken from a different simulation with a different box size, ensuring that between 100 and 1,000 rods are visible in each picture. The corresponding parameters and absolute concentrations can be read off from the white-filled symbols in Fig. 4a. In this figure the cross-sectional area of each rod is proportional to the number of filaments within the bundle.