Origin of Metastable Knots in Single Flexible Chains
Name
PhysRevLett.114.037801.pdf
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344.6 KB
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Author(s)
Dai, Liang
Doyle, Patrick S.
Renner, Christopher Benjamin
Date Issued
January 2015
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Dai, Liang, C. Benjamin Renner, and Patrick S. Doyle. "Origin of Metastable Knots in Single Flexible Chains." Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 037801 (January 2015). © 2015 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Recent theoretical progress has explained the physics of knotting of semiflexible polymers, yet knotting of flexible polymers is relatively unexplored. We herein develop a new theory for the size distribution of knots on a flexible polymer and the existence of metastable knots. We show the free energy of a flexible molecule in a tube can be mapped to quantitatively reproduce the free energy distribution of a knot on a flexible chain. The size distribution of knots on flexible chains is expected to be universal and might be observed at a macroscopic scale, such as a string of hard balls.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.037801
