Polyelectrolyte Condensation Induced by Linear Cations

We examine the role of the condensing agent in the formation of polyelectrolyte bundles, via grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Following recent experiments we use linear, rigid divalent cations of various lengths to induce condensation. Our results clarify and explain the experimental results for short cations. For longer cations we observe novel condensation behavior owing to alignment of the cations. We also study the role of the polyelectrolyte surface charge density, and find a nonmonotonic variation in bundle stability. This nonmonotonicity captures two trends that have been observed in separate experiments.