Metastable tight knots in a worm-like polymer

Details Metastable tight knots in a worm-like polymer Metastable tight knots in a worm-like polymer

2007-02-07

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0702160v1

Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 217801 (2007)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

4 pages, 3 figures

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.217801

Based on an estimate of the knot entropy of a worm-like chain we predict that the interplay of bending energy and confinement entropy will result in a compact metastable configuration of the knot that will diffuse, without spreading, along the contour of the semi-flexible polymer until it reaches one of the chain ends. Our estimate of the size of the knot as a function of its topological invariant (ideal aspect ratio) agrees with recent experimental results of knotted dsDNA. Further experimental tests of our ideas are proposed.

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