Topologically Driven Swelling of a Polymer Loop

Numerical studies of the average size of trivially knotted polymer loops with no excluded volume were undertaken. Topology was identified by Alexander and Vassiliev degree 2 invariants. Probability of a trivial knot, average gyration radius, and probability density distributions as functions of gyration radius were generated for loops of up to N = 3,000 segments. Gyration radii of trivially knotted loops were found to follow a power law similar to that of self-avoiding walks consistent with earlier theoretical predictions.