https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050145
Local writhing dynamics
Department of Physics and
Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA 19104, USA
Corresponding author: a kamien@dept.physics.upenn.edu
Received:
12
May
1997
Revised:
10
July
1997
Accepted:
10
October
1997
Published online: 15 January 1998
We present an alternative local definition of the writhe of a self-avoiding closed loop which differs from the traditional non-local definition by an integer. When studying dynamics this difference is immaterial. We employ a formula due to Aldinger, Klapper and Tabor for the change in writhe and propose a set of local, link preserving dynamics in an attempt to unravel some puzzles about actin.
PACS: 87.15.He – Molecular dynamics and conformational changes / 05.40.+j – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, and Brownian motion / 61.41.+e – Polymers, elastomers, and plastics
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1998
