A first proof of knot localization for polymers in a nanochannel

Abstract Based on polymer scaling theory and numerical evidence, Orlandini, Tesi, Janse van Rensburg and Whittington conjectured in 1996 that the limiting entropy of knot-type K lattice polygons is the same as that for unknot polygons, and that the entropic critical exponent increases by one for each prime knot in the knot decomposition of K . This Knot Entropy (KE) conjecture is consistent with the idea that for unconfined polymers, knots occur in a localized way (the knotted part is relatively small compared to polymer length). For full confinement (to a sphere or box), numerical evidence suggests that knots are much less localized. Numerical evidence for nanochannel or tube confinement is mixed, depending on how the size of a knot is measured. Here we outline the proof that the KE conjecture holds for polygons in the ∞ × 2 × 1 lattice tube and show that knotting is localized when a connected-sum measure of knot size is used. Similar results are established for linked polygons. This is the first model for which the knot entropy conjecture has been proved.