Activity-enhanced shear thinning of flexible linear polar polymers

The rheological properties of tangentially propelled flexible polymers under linear shear flow are studied by computer simulations and are compared with analytical calculations. We find a significant impact of the coupled nonequilibrium active and shear forces on the polymer characteristics. The polar activity enhances shear-induced stretching along the flow direction, shrinkage in the transverse direction, and implies a strongly amplified shear-thinning behavior. The characteristic shear rate for the onset of these effects is determined by the activity. In the asymptotic limit of large activities, the shear-induced features become independent of activity and, for asymptotically large shear rates, shear dominates over activity with passive polymer behavior.