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arXiv · 2609.28113

Position-dependent friction in protein folding from a GLE derived with a non-stationary localized projection distribution

Salma Salem·Lucas Tepper·Benjamin J. A. Héry·Henrik Kiefer·David D. Girardier·Roland R. Netz
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Abstract

The Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE) is an integro-differential equation of motion for a general observable of a many-body system and is rigorously derived using the projection operator formalism. In the standard derivation, a stationary canonical phase space distribution is used for the projection. Here, we derive a novel class of GLEs using a non-stationary projection distribution that constrains the initial ensemble to a hypersurface in phase space on which the observable has a fixed value $A_0$. As a result, all GLE parameters, and in particular the memory friction kernel, depend on $A_0$ and can be extracted from short simulations that do not sample the entire phase space. Applying this non-stationary GLE to protein folding trajectories, we find for villin and an $α$-helical poly-alanine segment that the total friction is higher in the folded state. These results demonstrate that observable-dependent friction effects are non-negligible and can be accounted for using non-stationary GLEs derived by constrained projection schemes.

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Salma Salem, Lucas Tepper, Benjamin J. A. Héry, Henrik Kiefer, David D. Girardier, Roland R. Netz. 2026-09-23. Position-dependent friction in protein folding from a GLE derived with a non-stationary localized projection distribution. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28113

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