On the universality of knot probability ratios

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the ratios of probabilities of different knot types in large random polygons are universal across various lattice types, providing evidence that these ratios depend only on the knot types themselves.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the amplitude ratios of knot probabilities are universal quantities, consistent across different lattice structures, supporting a key hypothesis in knot probability theory.

Findings

Amplitude ratios are approximately lattice-independent.

A long polygon is about 28 times more likely to be a trefoil than a figure-eight.

Results support the universality hypothesis of knot probability ratios.

Abstract

Let $p_n$ denote the number of self-avoiding polygons of length $n$ on a regular three-dimensional lattice, and let $p_n(K)$ be the number which have knot type $K$. The probability that a random polygon of length $n$ has knot type $K$ is $p_n(K)/p_n$ and is known to decay exponentially with length. Little is known rigorously about the asymptotics of $p_n(K)$, but there is substantial numerical evidence that $p_n(K)$ grows as $p_n(K) \simeq \, C_K \, \mu_\emptyset^n \, n^{\alpha-3+N_K}$, as $n \to \infty$, where $N_K$ is the number of prime components of the knot type $K$. It is believed that the entropic exponent, $\alpha$, is universal, while the exponential growth rate, $\mu_\emptyset$, is independent of the knot type but varies with the lattice. The amplitude, $C_K$, depends on both the lattice and the knot type. The above asymptotic form implies that the relative probability of a random polygon of length $n$ having prime knot type $K$ over prime knot type $L$ is $\frac{p_n(K)/p_n}{p_n(L)/p_n} = \frac{p_n(K)}{p_n(L)} \simeq [ \frac{C_K}{C_L} ]$. In the thermodynamic limit this probability ratio becomes an amplitude ratio; it should be universal and depend only on the knot types $K$ and $L$. In this letter we examine the universality of these probability ratios for polygons in the simple cubic, face-centered cubic, and body-centered cubic lattices. Our results support the hypothesis that these are universal quantities. For example, we estimate that a long random polygon is approximately 28 times more likely to be a trefoil than be a figure-eight, independent of the underlying lattice, giving an estimate of the intrinsic entropy associated with knot types in closed curves.