TY - JOUR
T1 - Metastable tight knots in a wormlike polymer
AU - Grosberg, Alexander Y.
AU - Rabin, Yitzhak
PY - 2007/11/20
Y1 - 2007/11/20
N2 - Based on an estimate of the knot entropy of a wormlike 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 semiflexible 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.
AB - Based on an estimate of the knot entropy of a wormlike 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 semiflexible 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=36248974307&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.217801
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.217801
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AN - SCOPUS:36248974307
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 99
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 21
M1 - 217801
ER -