DNA Knots

Multiscale entanglement in ring polymers under spherical confinement

speaker: Luca Tubiana (SISSA, Trieste)

abstract: We numerically investigate the interplay of geometrical and topological entanglement in semiflexible knotted polymer rings confined inside a spherical cavity. By using stringent and robust algorithms for locating knots, we characterize how the knot length, lk, depends on the ring contour length, Lc and the radius of the confining sphere, Rc. In the no- and strong-confinement cases we observe weak knot localization and complete knot delocalization, respectively. We show that the complex interplay of lk, Lc and Rc that seamlessly bridges these two limits can be encompassed by a simple scaling argument based on deflection theory. The same argument is used to rationalise the multiscale character of the entanglement that emerges with increasing confinement.

timetable:
Thu 16 Jun, 16:45 - 17:30, Aula Dini
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