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arXiv · 2605.02644

Polymer Knots in Thin Films: Thickness Dependence, Local Effects, and Stiffness

Maurice P. Schmitt·Hendrik Meyer·Peter Virnau
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Abstract

We study how confinement affects topology and conformations in polymer films of varying thickness $h$. The knotting probability exhibits a maximum at intermediate thicknesses near the bulk radius of gyration $h \approx R_\mathrm{g,bulk}$, vanishes at small $h$ and approaches bulk values for large $h$. Close to walls, the entanglement length increases monotonically and conformations become flatter. A layer-resolved analysis of structural and topological properties allows us to reconstruct the explicit thickness dependencies by integrating layer-resolved properties of a thick film.

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Maurice P. Schmitt, Hendrik Meyer, Peter Virnau. 2026-05-04. Polymer Knots in Thin Films: Thickness Dependence, Local Effects, and Stiffness. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02644

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