Abstract
We represent ring polymers in free space with the rod-bead model and show through unbiased computer simulations that the probability of observing a trivial self-entanglement (P) has a decreasing exponential dependence on the contour length (N) of the polymer, or that P=exp(-N/). The characteristic length () varies by many orders of magnitude depending on chain flexibility and solvent quality. We also suggest that sufficiently large knots are always composite, not prime.
- Received 10 December 1990
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.66.2211
©1991 American Physical Society