Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 57: Polymer Dynamics and Rheology (joint session CPP/DY, organized by CPP)

CPP 57.8: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 10. März 2016, 17:00–17:15, H40

Knots as Topological Order Parameter for Semiflexible Polymers — •Martin Marenz and Wolfhad Janke — Institut für theoretische Physik, Leipzig, Germany

We used a combination of the multicanonical Monte Carlo algorithm and the replica-exchange method to investigate the phase diagram of a semiflexible polymer in dependence of the polymer stiffness. We found a novel phase in the phase diagram which is best described by the knot type of the polymer conformation. Almost all conformations in these phases have the same knot type after applying a procedure which connects the termini of the polymer. Therefore, they are thermodynamically stable and considerable different from the knots found in the swollen and globular phase of flexible polymers. We also showed that a derivative of the Alexander polynomial is a well suited order parameter to distinguish the *knotted* phases. Moreover, the transitions into the knotted conformations exhibit a phase coexistence, but happen at an almost constant mean total energy, hence we observed no latent heat.