Critical evaluation of the computational methods used in the forced polymer translocation

In forced polymer translocation, the average translocation time tau scales with respect to pore force f and polymer length N as tau approximately f;{-1}N;{beta} . We demonstrate that an artifact in the Metropolis Monte Carlo method resulting in breakage of the force scaling with large f may be responsible for some of the controversies between different computationally obtained results and also between computational and experimental results. Using Langevin dynamics simulations we show that the scaling exponent beta<or=1+nu is not universal, but depends on f . Moreover, we show that forced translocation can be described by a relatively simple force balance argument and beta to arise solely from the initial polymer configuration.