Boulder School 2019: Student Poster Abstracts

Please note that while there is not one required or mandatory size, all posters should fit in a space no longer than 36” (91 cm) wide and preferably be no more than about 48” (122 cm) in height. Arrangements can be made for other sizes as necessary.

Isabella Graf


Ludwig Maximilian University Munich

Stochastic Yield Catastrophes and Robustness in Self-Assembly

A guiding principle in self-assembly is that, for high production yield, nucleation of new structures must be significantly slower than their growth. However, whether details of the mechanism that impedes nucleation are decisive has not been thoroughly explored. We analyze a generic stochastic model for self-assembly into finite-sized target structures, and investigate two key scenarios to delay nucleation. While one scenario exhibits robust behavior, the other one is highly sensitive to stochastic effects, which can completely suppress yield. Our results reveal that stochasticity is an important limiting factor for self-assembly, and that details of the nucleation process play a significant role for the final yield.