arXiv subjects

Franco Ferrari

Publications and source records attributed to Franco Ferrari.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

SPOCK*: A simple program for simulating knotted and concatenated polymer rings off-lattice

The purpose of this work is to present SPOCK*, a Monte Carlo code specifically written to investigate the thermodynamic and mechanical properties of polymers in the presence of topological constraints. The interactions between the monomers are described by a Lennard-Jones potential. Pulling forces can be applied to one or more monomers. Simple and fast algorithms have been implemented to preserve the topology and to compute the energy of the sampled conformations. After a new conformation is accepted, only the difference of energy between the new and the old conformations needs to be evaluated. In this way the simulation time grows linearly with the polymer size. A strategy based on the fluctuations of the specific heat capacity has been developed in order to avoid bottlenecks like the trapping of the system in a deep local minima at low temperature. Currently, the averages of the following observables are computed: specific heat capacity, elongation and gyration radius.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2026

On the thermal properties of knotted block copolymer rings

We investigate the thermal and structural properties of knotted diblock copolymer rings using a coarse-grained lattice model in an implicit solvent. The system is studied by means of the Wang--Landau Monte Carlo algorithm, allowing us to analyze thermodynamic and conformational responses over a wide temperature range. Different knot topologies, including the unknot, trefoil, figure-eight, and pentafoil knots, are considered for both symmetric and asymmetric monomer compositions. In the AB model employed here, A-type monomers are self-repulsive, B-type monomers are self-attractive, and A-B interactions are neutral, such that the solvent is effectively good for A-type monomers and poor for B-type monomers at low temperatures. We analyze several key observables, including the heat capacity, the radius of gyration, and its temperature derivative for both the entire copolymer ring and the individual blocks, and the probability that a monomer belongs to the knotted region. Our results show that the interplay between knot topology, monomer composition, and temperature strongly influences polymer conformations. Small variations in the B-block length induce nonmonotonic, reentrant-like conformational behavior as a function of temperature, including transitions between knot localization and delocalization at low temperatures. These effects arise from the competition between energetic and entropic contributions imposed by topological constraints.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2026

A perturbative Liouville prescription for the celestial three-gluon amplitude

We study the celestial three-gluon amplitude in a dilaton background through the Mellin-Liouville formulation proposed by Stieberger, Taylor and Zhu (STZ). The original map contains an ambiguity in the identification of Liouville and Mellin variables; we resolve it by requiring global conformal covariance and compatibility with the semiclassical expansion of Liouville theory. This uniquely fixes the operator normalization and the parameter dictionary, and leads to a controlled expansion in the Liouville coupling $b$. Starting from the full Liouville DOZZ three-point function, we derive the leading and first subleading terms in the $b^2$ expansion. The leading term reproduces the tree-level Yang-Mills amplitude in the small total momentum limit, as anticipated in the STZ proposal. The one-loop correction can be written in closed form using modified Bessel functions, and its soft limit exhibits a clear separation into geometric and logarithmic contributions. The resulting framework extends the STZ proposal to finite-$b$ corrections in a consistent and computable way.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Small-$b$ expansion of the DOZZ formula for light operators

We present a systematic small-$b$ expansion of the Liouville DOZZ three-point structure constant in the light-operator regime $\alpha_i=b\sigma_i$ as $b\to0$. In this limit, the exact DOZZ function factorizes into a prefactor ${\cal P(b;\sigma_1,\sigma_2,\sigma_3)$ and a power series in $b^2$: \[ C(b\sigma_1,b\sigma_2,b\sigma_3)={\cal P}(b;\sigma_i)\Bigg[1+\sum_{n\ge1}b^{2n}\,\Omega_n(\sigma_1,\sigma_2,\sigma_3)\Bigg]. \] Using Thorn's asymptotic expansion of the $\Upsilon_b$-function we derive closed-form expressions for the leading coefficients $\Omega_n(\sigma_i)$ and show that each $\Omega_n$ is a symmetric polynomial in the variables $\sigma_i$. Our expansion provides explicit perturbative corrections to the semiclassical Liouville three-point function and therefore supplies a practical tool for applications in celestial holography, in particular, for generating loop-level corrections to the tree-level three-gluon scattering amplitude. Finally, we formulate a perturbative Liouville program for celestial amplitudes and outline directions for further development.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

2D CFT and efficient Bethe ansatz for exactly solvable Richardson-Gaudin models

This work inaugurates a series of complementary studies on Richardson-Gaudin integrable models. We begin by reviewing the foundations of classical and quantum integrability, recalling the algebraic Bethe ansatz solution of the Richardson (reduced BCS) and Gaudin (central spin) models, and presenting a proof of their integrability based on the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations and their generalizations to perturbed affine conformal blocks. Building on this foundation, we then describe an alternative CFT-based formulation. In this approach, the Bethe ansatz equations for these exactly solvable models are embedded within two-dimensional Virasoro CFT via irregular, degenerate conformal blocks. To probe new formulations within the Richardson-Gaudin class, we develop a high-performance numerical solver. The Bethe roots are encoded in the Baxter polynomial, with initial estimates obtained from a secular matrix eigenproblem and subsequently refined using a deflation-assisted hybrid Newton-Raphson/Laguerre algorithm. The solver proves effective in practical applications: when applied to picket-fence, harmonic oscillator, and hydrogen-like spectra, it accurately reproduces known rapidity trajectories and reveals consistent merging and branching patterns of arcs in the complex rapidity plane. We also explain how to generalize our computational approach to finite temperatures, allowing us to calculate temperature-dependent pairing energies and other thermodynamic observables directly within the discrete Richardson model. We propose an application of the solver to Gaudin-type Bethe equations, which emerge in the classical (large central charge) limit of Virasoro conformal blocks. We conclude by outlining future directions: direct minimization of the Yang-Yang function as an alternative root-finding strategy; revisiting time-dependent extensions; and ... .

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Single [2]catenanes in solution forming ${\sf 4}$-plats: a combined field theoretical and numerical approach

The statistical mechanics of [2]catenanes in a solution with constrained number of maxima and minima along a special direction (the height) is discussed. The interest in this system comes from the fact that, in the homopolymer case, it has analogies with self-dual anyon field theory models and has conformations that minimize the static energy and bear particular symmetries and properties. In the first part of this work we provide a procedure for deriving the equations of motion in the case of replica field theories in the limit of zero replicas. We compute also the partition function of the [2]catenane at the lowest order in the frame of the so-called background field method. In the second part the statistical mechanics of the system is investigated using numerical simulations based on the Wang-Landau Monte Carlo method. At equilibrium, independently of the temperature, it turns out that the conformations of the system are elongated in the height directions. The two rings composing the [2]catenanes have approximately the same heights and are aligned. The thermodynamic properties of the system are discussed and the results coming from the field theoretical approach are compared with those of the numerical simulations.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2024

A contact map method to capture the features of knot conformations

Inspired by recent advances in the chromosome capture techniques, a method is proposed to study the structural organization of systems of polymers rings with topological constraints.To this purpose, the system is divided into compartments and a simple condition is provided in order to determine if two compartments are in contact or not. Next, a set of contact matrices $\bar T_{ab}$ is defined that count how many times during a simulation a compartment $a$ was found in contact with a non-contiguous compartment $b$ in conformations with a given energy or temperature. Similar strategies based on correlation maps have been applied to the study of knotted polymers in the recent past. The advantage of the present approach is that is coupled with the Wang-Landau algorithm. Once the density of states is computed, it is possible to generate the contact matrices at any temperature. This gives an immediate overview over the changes of phases that polymer systems undergo. The information on the structure of knotted polymers and links stored in the contact matrices is the result of averaging hundred of billions of conformations and visualized by means of colormaps. The obtained color patterns allow to identify the main properties of the structure of the system under investigation at any temperature. The method is applied to detect the structural rearrangements following the phase transitions of a knotted polymer ring and a circular polycatenane composed by four rings in a solution. It is shown that the colormaps have a finite number of patterns that can be clearly associated with the different phases of these systems. Colormaps also bring new knowledge, for instance predicting the average number of tails appearing in the conformations of the considered polymers at a given temperature.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2023

Self-dual solutions of a field theory model of two linked rings

In this work the connection established in [7, 8] between a model of two linked polymers rings with fixed Gaussian linking number forming a 4-plat and the statistical mechanics of non-relativistic anyon particles is explored. The excluded volume interactions have been switched off and only the interactions of entropic origin arising from the topological constraints are considered. An interpretation from the polymer point of view of the field equations that minimize the energy of the model in the limit in which one of the spatial dimensions of the 4-plat becomes very large is provided. It is shown that the self-dual contributions are responsible for the long-range interactions that are necessary for preserving the global topological properties of the system during the thermal fluctuations. The non self-dual part is also related to the topological constraints, and takes into account the local interactions acting on the monomers in order to prevent the breaking of the polymer lines. It turns out that the energy landscape of the two linked rings is quite complex. Assuming as a rough approximation that the monomer densities of half of the 4-plat are constant, at least two points of energy minimum are found. Classes of non-trivial self-dual solutions of the self-dual field equations are derived. ... .

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

On the thermal properties of knotted block copolymer rings

The thermal properties of coarse grained knotted polymers containing two kinds of monomers $A$ and $B$ fluctuating in a solution are investigated on a simple cubic lattice using the Wang-Landau MC algorithm. These knots have a more complex phase diagram than knots formed by homopolymers, including the possible presence of metastable states. Two different setups are considered: i) charged block copolymers in a ion solution and ii) neutral copolymers with the $A$ monomers above and the $B$ monomers below the theta point. A precise interpretation of the peaks observed in the plots of the specific heat capacity is provided. In view of possible applications in medicine and the construction of intelligent materials, it is also shown that the behavior of copolymer rings can be tuned by changing both their monomer configuration and topology. We find that the most stable compact states are formed by charged copolymers in which very short segments with $A$ monomers are alternated by short segments with $B$ monomers. In such knots the transition from the compact to the expanded state is very fast, leading to a narrow and high peak in the specific heat capacity which appears at very high temperatures. The effects of topology allow to tune the radius of gyration of the knotted polymer ring and to increase or decrease the temperatures at which the observed phase transitions or rearrangements of the system occur. While we observe a general fading out of the influence of topology in longer polymers, our simulations have captured a few exceptions to this rule.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Ring-o-rings: a new category of supramolecular structures with topologically tunable properties

Macrochains of topologically interlocked rings with unique physical properties have recently gained considerable interest in supramolecular chemistry, biology, and soft matter. Most of the work has been, so far, focused on linear chains and on their variety of conformational properties compared to standard polymers. Here we go beyond the linear case and show that, by circularizing such macrochains, one can exploit the topology of the local interlockings to store torsional stress in the system, altering significantly its metric and local properties. Moreover, by properly defining the twist (Tw) and writhe (Wr) of these macrorings we show the validity of a relation equivalent to the C\v{a}lug\v{a}reanu-White-Fuller theorem $Tw + Wr$=const, originally proved for ribbon like structures such as ds-DNA. Our results suggest that circular structures of topologically linked rings with storable and tunable torsion can form a new category of highly designable multiscale structures with potential applications in supramolecular chemistry and material science

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

A new strategy to microscopic modelling of topological entanglement in polymers based on field theory

In this work a new strategy is proposed in order to build analytic and microscopic models of fluctuating polymer rings subjected to topological constraints. The topological invariants used to fix these constraints belong to a wide class of the so-called numerical topological invariants. For each invariant it is possible to derive a field theory that describes the statistical behavior of knotted and linked polymer rings following a straightforward algorithm. The treatment is not limited to the partition function of the system, but it allows also to express the expectation values of general observables as field theory amplitudes. Our strategy is illustrated taking as examples the Gauss linking number and a topological invariant belonging to a class of invariants due to Massey. The consistency of the new method developed here is checked by reproducing a previous field theoretical model of two linked polymer rings. After the passage to field theory, the original topological constraints imposed on the fluctuating paths of the polymers become constraints over the configurations of the topological fields that mediate the interactions of topological origin between the monomers. These constraints involve quantities like the cross-helicity which are of interest in other disciplines, like for instance in modeling the solar magnetic field. While the calculation of the vacuum expectation values of generic observables remains still challenging due to the complexity of the problem of topological entanglement in polymer systems, we succeed here to reduce the evaluation of the moments of the Gauss linking number for two linked polymer rings to the computation of the amplitudes of a free field theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Block copolymer knots

An extensive study of single block copolymer knots containing two kinds of monomers $A$ and $B$ is presented. The knots are in a solution and their monomers are subjected to short range interactions that can be attractive or repulsive. In view of possible applications in medicine and the construction of intelligent materials, it is shown that several features of copolymer knots can be tuned by changing the monomer configuration. A very fast and abrupt swelling with increasing temperature is obtained in certain multiblock copolymers, while the size and the swelling behavior at high temperatures may be controlled in diblock copolymers. Interesting new effects appear in the thermal diagrams of copolymer knots when their length is increased.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

The topological effect on the Mechanical properties of polymer knots

The mechanical properties of polymer knots under stretching in a bad or good solvent are investigated by applying a given force $F$ to a point of the knot while keeping another point fixed. The Monte Carlo sampling of the polymer conformations on a simple cubic lattice is performed using a variant of the Wang-Landau algorithm. The results of the calculations of the specific energy, specific heat capacity and gyration radius for several knot topologies show a general trend in the behavior of short polymer knots with lengths up to seventy lattice units. At low tensile force $F$, knots can be found either in a compact or an extended phase, depending if the temperature is low or high. At any temperature, with increasing values of the force $F$, a polymer knot undergoes a phase transition to a stretched state. This transition is characterized by a strong peak in the heat capacity. There is also a minor peak, which corresponds to a transition occurring at low temperatures when the conformations of polymers in the stretched phase become swollen with increasing temperatures. It is also shown that the behavior of short polymer rings is strongly influenced by topological effects. The limitations in the number of accessible energy states due to topological constraints is particularly evident in knots of small size and such that their minimum number of crossing according to the Rolfsen knot table is high. An example is provided by a cinquefoil knot $5_1$ with a length of only fifty lattice units. The thermal and mechanical properties of knots that can be represented with diagrams having the same minimum number of crossings, are very similar. The size effects on the behavior of polymer knots have been analyzed too. Surprisingly, it is found that topological effects fade out very fast with increasing polymer length.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2014

A Topological Field Theory for the triple Milnor linking coefficient

The subject of this work is a three-dimensional topological field theory with a non-semisimple group of gauge symmetry with observables consisting in the holonomies of connections around three closed loops. The connections are a linear combination of gauge potentials with coefficients containing a set of one-dimensional scalar fields. It is checked that these observables are both metric independent and gauge invariant. The gauge invariance is achieved by requiring non-trivial gauge transformations in the scalar field sector. This topological field theory is solvable and has only a relevant amplitude which has been computed exactly. From this amplitude it is possible to isolate a topological invariant which is Milnor's triple linking invariant. The topological invariant obtained in this way is in the form of a sum of multiple contour integrals. The contours coincide with the trajectories of the three loops mentioned before. The introduction of the one-dimensional scalar field is necessary in order to reproduce correctly the particular path ordering of the integration over the contours which is present in the triple Milnor linking coefficient. This is the first example of a local topological gauge field theory that is solvable and can be associated to a topological invariant of the complexity of the triple Milnor linking coefficient.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

On a field theoretical model of polymeric $2s-$plats and some of its consequences

The field theory approach to the statistical mechanics of a system of N polymer rings linked together is generalized to the case of links that have a fixed number $2s$ of maxima and minima. Such kind of links are called plats and appear for instance in the DNA of living organisms. The topological states of the link are distinguished using the Gauss linking number. This is a relatively weak link invariant in the case of a general link, but its efficiency improves when $2s-$plats are considered. It is proved that, if we restrict ourselves to $2s-$plat conformations, the field theoretical model established here is able to take into account also the interactions of topological origin involving three chains simultaneously. It is shown that these three-body interactions have nonvanishing contributions when three or more rings are entangled together, enhancing for instance the attractive forces between monomers. The model can be used to study the statistical mechanics of polymers in confined geometries, for instance when $2s$ extrema of a few polymer rings are attached to membranes. Its partition function is mapped here into that of a multi-layer electron gas. Such quasi-particle systems are studied in connection with several interesting applications, including high-$T_c$ superconductivity and topological quantum computing. At the end an useful connection with the cosh-Gordon equation is shown.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Ring polymers with topological constraints

In the first part of this work a summary is provided of some recent experiments and theoretical results which are relevant in the research of systems of polymer rings in nontrivial topological conformations. Next, some advances in modeling the behavior of single polymer knots are presented. The numerical simulations are performed with the help of the Wang-Landau Monte Carlo algorithm. To sample the polymer conformation a set of random transformations called pivot moves is used. The crucial problem of preserving the topology of the knots after each move is tackled with the help of two new techniques which are briefly explained. As an application, the results of an investigation of the effects of topology on the thermal properties of polymer knots is reported. In the end, original results are discussed concerning the use of parallelized codes to study polymers knots composed by a large number of segments within the Wang-Landau approach.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2014

Monte Carlo Computation of the Vassiliev knot invariant of degree 2 in the integral representation

In mathematics there is a wide class of knot invariants that may be expressed in the form of multiple line integrals computed along the trajectory C describing the spatial conformation of the knot. In this work it is addressed the problem of evaluating invariants of this kind in the case in which the knot is discrete, i.e. its trajectory is constructed by joining together a set of segments of constant length. Such discrete knots appear almost everywhere in numerical simulations of systems containing one dimensional ring-shaped objects. Examples are polymers, the vortex lines in fluids and superfluids like helium and other quantum liquids. Formally, the trajectory of a discrete knot is a piecewise smooth curve characterized by sharp corners at the joints between contiguous segments. The presence of these corners spoils the topological invariance of the knot invariants considered here and prevents the correct evaluation of their values. To solve this problem, a smoothing procedure is presented, which eliminates the sharp corners and transforms the original path C into a curve that is everywhere differentiable. The procedure is quite general and can be applied to any discrete knot defined off or on lattice. This smoothing algorithm is applied to the computation of the Vassiliev knot invariant of degree 2 denoted here with the symbol r(C). This is the simplest knot invariant that admits a definition in terms of multiple line integrals. For a fast derivation of r(C), it is used a Monte Carlo integration technique. It is shown that, after the smoothing, the values of r(C) may be evaluated with an arbitrary precision. Several algorithms for the fast computation of the Vassiliev knot invariant of degree 2 are provided.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

A study of polymer knots using a simple knot invariant written consisting of multiple contour integrals

In this work the thermodynamic properties of short polymer knots (up to 120 segments) defined on a simple cubic lattice are studied with the help of the Wang-Landau Monte Carlo algorithm. The sampling process is performed using pivot transformations starting from a given seed conformation. Both cases of short-range attractive and repulsive interactions acting on the monomers are considered. The properties of the specific energy, heat capacity and gyration radius of several knots are discussed. It is found that the heat capacity exhibits a sharp peak. If the interactions are attractive, similar peaks have been observed also in single open chains and have been related to the transition from a frozen crystallite state to an expanded coil state. Some other peculiarities of the behavior of the analyzed observables are presented, like for instance the increasing or decreasing of the knot specific energy at high temperatures with increasing polymer lengths depending if the interactions are attractive or repulsive. Besides the investigation of the thermodynamics of polymer knots, the second goal of this paper is to introduce a method for distinguishing the topology of a knot based on a topological invariant which is in the form of multiple contour integrals and explicitly depends on the physical trajectory of the knot. The chosen invariant is related to the second coefficient of the Conway polynomial. It has been first isolated from the amplitudes of a Chern-Simons field theory with gauge group SU(N). It is shown that this invariant is very reliable in distinguishing the topology of polymer knots. One of the advantages of the proposed approach is that it allows to reduce the number of samples needed by the Wang-Landau algorithm. Some solutions to speed up the calculations exploiting Monte Carlo integration techniques are developed.

cond-mat.soft↗