Abstract. We study the thermally activated motion of semi°exible polymers in double-well potentials using ¯eld-theoretic methods. Shape, energy, and e®ective di®usion constant of kink excitations are calculated, and their dependence on the bending rigidity of the semi°exible polymer is determined. For symmetric potentials, the kink motion is purely di®usive whereas kink motion becomes directed in the presence of a driving force. We determine the average velocity of the semi°exible polymer based on the kink dynamics. The Kramers escape over the potential barriers proceeds by nucleation and di®usive motion of kink-antikink pairs, the relaxation to the straight con¯guration by annihilation of kink-antikink pairs. We consider both uniform and p...
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