Writhe-induced knotting in a lattice polymer

E Dagrosa; A L Owczarek; T Prellberg

doi:10.1088/1751-8113/48/6/065002

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arXiv · 1410.6012

Writhe-induced knotting in a lattice polymer

E Dagrosa·A L Owczarek·T Prellberg

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Abstract

We consider a simple lattice model of a topological phase transition in open polymers. To be precise, we study a model of self-avoiding walks on the simple cubic lattice tethered to a surface and weighted by an appropriately defined writhe. We also consider the effect of pulling the untethered end of the polymer from the surface. Regardless of the force we find a first-order phase transition which we argue is a consequence of increased knotting in the lattice polymer, rather than due to other effects such as the formation of plectonemes.

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E Dagrosa, A L Owczarek, T Prellberg. 2014-10-22. Writhe-induced knotting in a lattice polymer. https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113%2F48%2F6%2F065002

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