English

Entanglement by design: Symmetry-guided periodic helical assemblies

Soft Condensed Matter 2026-03-31 v1 Materials Science

Abstract

In this paper, a selection of elegant, highly symmetric examples of three-periodic tangled nets and filaments are presented. They are constructed via familiar crystal nets using edges as geometric scaffolds for n-fold helical windings. Rather than providing a complete classification, this gallery of examples highlights recurring geometric motifs, offering insight into how periodic tangles are organised in crystalline, molecular, and biological systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.26817,
  title  = {Entanglement by design: Symmetry-guided periodic helical assemblies},
  author = {Myfanwy E. Evans},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.26817},
  year   = {2026}
}