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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Loop statistics in polymers in crowded environment
1Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 79011 Lviv, Ukraine.
Abstract:
We analyze the probability to find a single loop in a long flexible polymer chain in disordered environment in d dimensions. The structural defects are considered to be correlated on large distances r according to a power law ∼r(-a). Working within the frames of continuous chain model and applying the direct polymer renormalization scheme, we obtain the values of critical exponents governing the scaling of probabilities to find the loops of various positions along the chain as function of loops' length. Our results quantitatively reveal that the presence of structural defects in environment decreases the probability of loop formation in polymer macromolecules.
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