Equilibrium size of large ring molecules

TL;DR

This study investigates the equilibrium size of large ring molecules using a topologically preserving off-lattice model, revealing that their radius of gyration scales like a self-avoiding walk for chains over 500 monomers.

Contribution

It demonstrates that large ring molecules without excluded volume still exhibit self-avoiding walk scaling, extending understanding of their equilibrium properties.

Findings

Radius of gyration scales like self-avoiding walk

Scaling observed only for chains >500 monomers

Efficient long-range moves enable simulation of chains >2000 monomers

Abstract

The equilibrium properties of isolated ring molecules were investigated using an off-lattice model with no excluded volume but with dynamics that preserve the topological class. Using an efficient set of long range moves, chains of more than 2000 monomers were studied. Despite the lack of any excluded volume interaction, the radius of gyration scaled like that of a self avoiding walk, as had been previously conjectured. However this scaling was only seen for chains greater than 500 monomers.