Configurational entropy and efficient sampling of randomly double-folding chromosome-like polymers

by Prof. Angelo Rosa (SISSA)

Wednesday 25 Mar 2026, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Rome

P2C (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio Paolotti)

Topologically constrained genome-like polymers often double-fold into tree-like configurations, which can be modelled on the level of the folded (ring) polymer or on the level of the underlying random tree. For both descriptions, we present exact expressions for the configurational entropy in ensembles with controlled branching activity, and demonstrate that they are equivalent up to a contribution originating from the number of distinct wrappings of a single tree. This allows us to develop a coherent framework for freely switching between the two representations by correcting for the different inherent statistical weights and treating excluded volume interactions consistently on the tree and on the ring level.