Dynamics of knotted polymers

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Most people should have the frustrated experience of trying to untie an entangled mess of a knotted string. It seems that the more crossing the string has, it would take more time and patience for one to untie it. And certainly random and/or violent movements of the string segments would make thing even worse in most cases. To our surprise, our recent studies[l, 2]on the non-equilibrium relaxation of a closed knotted polymer cut at some point and relaxed by Brownian motion to a linear chain, indicates that it is not always true that knots with more essential crossings will, on average, take more time to untie. The detail topology of the knot type and the topological interactions are important in the untying relaxation dynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSlow Dynamics in Complex Systems
Subtitle of host publication3rd International Symposium on Slow Dynamics in Complex Systems
EditorsMichio Tokuyama, Irwin Oppenheim
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
Pages281-284
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)0735401837
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Apr 2004
Event3rd International Symposium on Slow Dynamics in Complex Systems - Sendai, Japan
Duration: 3 Nov 20038 Nov 2003

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume708
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference3rd International Symposium on Slow Dynamics in Complex Systems
Country/TerritoryJapan
CitySendai
Period3/11/038/11/03

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