Topological signatures of globular polymers

Abstract

Simulations in which a globular ring polymer with delocalized knots is separated in two interacting loops by a slipping link, or in two non-interacting globuli by a wall with a hole, show how the minimal crossing number of the knots controls the equilibrium statistics. With slipping link the ring length is divided between the loops according to a simple law, but with unexpectedly large fluctuations. These are suppressed only for unknotted loops, whose length distribution shows always a fast power law decay. We also discover and explain a topological effect interfering with that of surface tension in the globule translocation through a membrane nanopore.

4 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Knot-controlled ejection of a polymer from a virus capsid
• Ranking knots of random, globular polymer rings
• The entropic cost to tie a knot
• Elastic Lattice Polymers

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Structure and dynamics of ring polymers: entanglement effects because of solution density and ring topology
• Machine learning understands knotted polymers
• Knotted globular ring polymers: how topology affects statistics and thermodynamics
• Testing the physics of knots with a Feringa nanoengine
• Interacting Elastic Lattice Polymers: a Study of the Free-Energy of Globular Rings
• Variational autoencoders understand knot topology