Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 33: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems IV (joint with DY)

BP 33.10: Talk

Friday, March 15, 2013, 12:00–12:15, H44

Scaling behaviour of knotted polymer rings in semidilute solutions — •Benjamin Trefz and Peter Virnau — Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz

Recently, the study of ring polymers and in particular their scaling behaviour in semidilute solutions [1, 2] has attracted considerable attention as a potential model system for the organization of DNA in chromosome territories. Building upon these studies, we investigate the influence of topology in melts of rings, which contain a certain knot type. These molecular dynamics simulations typically require around half a million particles as well as long run times and have been performed on graphic cards. Just like their unknotted counterparts, knotted rings form crumpled globules in the large N-limit. Knots tend to take up a large fraction of the chain for small rings, but become localized in the thermodynamic limit.

[1] J. Halverson, W. Lee, G. Grest, A. Grosberg, and K. Kremer, "Molecular dynamics simulation study of nonconcatenated ring polymers in a melt. I. Statics," The Journal of chemical physics, vol. 134, p. 204904, 2011.

[2] D. Reith, L. Mirny, and P. Virnau, "GPU Based Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Polymer Rings in Concentrated solution: Structure and Scaling," Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement, vol. 191, pp. 135-145, 2011.