Predicting optimal lengths of random knots
Détails
ID Serval
serval:BIB_55DA3B2D11FC
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Predicting optimal lengths of random knots
Périodique
Letters in Mathematical Physics
ISSN
0377-9017
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2001
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
55
Numéro
3
Pages
239-247
Langue
anglais
Résumé
In a thermally fluctuating long linear polymeric chain in a solution, the ends, from time to time, approach each other. At such an instance, the chain can be regarded as closed and thus will form a knot or rather a virtual knot. Several earlier studies of random knotting demonstrated that simpler knots show a higher occurrence for shorter random walks than do more complex knots. However, up to now there have been no rules that could be used to predict the optimal length of a random walk, i.e. the length for which a given knot reaches its highest occurrence. Using numerical simulations, we show here that a power law accurately describes the relation between the optimal lengths of random walks leading to the formation of different knots and the previously characterized lengths of ideal knots of a corresponding type.
Mots-clé
knots, polymers, scaling laws, DNA, random walks, biophysics
Web of science
Création de la notice
24/01/2008 10:25
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 14:10