# Threading-Induced Dynamical Transition in Tadpole-Shaped Polymers

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how the unique tadpole-shaped polymer architecture causes a threading-induced transition that significantly slows relaxation, revealing new insights into topology-controlled polymer dynamics and rheology.

## Contribution

It introduces the concept of a threading-induced dynamical transition in tadpole-shaped polymers, highlighting the impact of topology on relaxation behavior.

## Key findings

- Tadpole polymers exhibit a significant slowdown in chain relaxation due to threading.
- Threading controls the dynamical transition in these chimeric architectures.
- Results inform design principles for polymers with tunable rheological properties.

## Abstract

The relationship between polymer topology and bulk rheology remains a key question in soft matter physics. Architecture-specific constraints (or threadings) are thought to control the dynamics of ring polymers in ring-linear blends, which thus affects the viscosity to range between that of the pure rings and a value larger, but still comparable to, that of the pure linear melt. Here we consider qualitatively different systems of linear and ring polymers, fused together in "chimeric" architectures. The simplest example of this family is a "tadpole"-shaped polymer - a single ring fused to the end of a single linear chain. We show that polymers with this architecture display a threading-induced dynamical transition that substantially slows chain relaxation. Our findings shed light on how threadings control dynamics and may inform design principles for chimeric polymers with topologically-tunable bulk rheological properties.