Related papers: Knotted globular ring polymers: how topology affec…
Motivated by recent advances in single molecule manipulation techniques that enabled several groups to tie knots in individual polymer strands and to monitor their dynamics, we have used computer simulations to study "friction knots"…
The study of knots and links from a probabilistic viewpoint provides insight into the behavior of "typical" knots, and opens avenues for new constructions of knots and other topological objects with interesting properties. The knotting of…
The longitudinal response of single semiflexible polymers to sudden changes in externally applied forces is known to be controlled by the propagation and relaxation of backbone tension. Under many experimental circumstances, realized, e.g.,…
Nonequilibrium active polymers provide a minimal framework to investigate biopolymers such as DNA and chromatin under the action of molecular motors. Here we study active ring polymers with controlled topology and show that knot type…
The statistical mechanics of polymer loops entangled in the two-dimensional array of randomly distributed obstacles of infinite length is discussed. The area of the loop projected to the plane perpendicular to the obstacles is used as a…
The bond fluctuation method is used to simulate both non-concatenated entangled and interpenetrating melts of ring polymers. We find that the swelling of interpenetrating rings upon dilution follows the same laws as for linear chains.…
Many glass-forming fluids exhibit a remarkable thermodynamic scaling in which dynamic properties, such as the viscosity, the relaxation time, and the diffusion constant, can be described under different thermodynamic conditions in terms of…
We introduce and implement a Monte Carlo scheme to study the equilibrium statistics of polymers in the globular phase. It is based on a model of "interacting elastic lattice polymers" and allows a sufficiently good sampling of long and…
We construct a micromechanical version of an early model for topologically constrained polymers -- a 2D chain amongst point-like uncrossable obstacles -- which allows us to explicitly elucidate the role of topological forces beyond…
Entangled networks are ubiquitous in tissues, polymers, and fabrics. However, their mechanics remain insufficiently understood due to the complexity of the topological constraints at the network level. Here, we develop a mathematical…
Recent studies classify the topology of proteins by analysing the distribution of their projections using knotoids. The approximation of this distribution depends on the number of projection directions that are sampled. Here we investigate…
The coupled dynamics of entangled polymers which span a broad time and length scales govern the unique viscoelastic properties of polymers. To follow chain mobility by numerical simulations from the intermediate Rouse and reptation regimes…
We consider the rupture dynamics of a homopolymer chain pulled at one end at a constant loading rate. Our model of the breakable polymer is related to the Rouse chain, with the only difference that the interaction between the monomers is…
Ribbons are a class of slender structures whose length, width, and thickness are widely separated from each other. This scale separation gives a ribbon unusual mechanical properties in athermal macroscopic settings, e.g. it can bend without…
We consider the statistical mechanics of a system of topologically linked polymers, such as for instance a dense solution of polymer rings. If the possible topological states of the system are distinguished using the Gauss linking number as…
Nano-scale confinement of polymer in cone-shaped geometries occurs in many experimental situations. A flexible polymer confined in a cone-shaped nano-channel is studied theoretically and using molecular dynamics simulations. Distribution of…
We present Monte Carlo computer simulations for melts of semiflexible randomly knotted and randomly concatenated ring polymers on the fcc lattice and in slit confinement. Through systematic variation of the slit width at fixed melt density,…
We study the formation of knots on a macroscopic ball-chain, which is shaken on a horizontal plate at 12 times the acceleration of gravity. We find that above a certain critical length, the knotting probability is independent of chain…
Entangled knots form spontaneously in flexible filaments, yet the influence of the surrounding environment on this process is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that free-moving particles act as kinetic catalysts for spontaneous…
The thermodynamic behavior of collapse transition in a fully flexible coarse-grained model of energy polydisperse polymer (EPP), a statistical model of random heteropolymer, is investigated in an implicit solvent by means of molecular…