The average shape of the closed trefoil knot fluctuating on a floppy rope

Abstract

The average shape of the trefoil knot tied on a floppy, hard rope subject to thermal fluctuations has been determined. The fluctuations of the shape of knots were performed by random bending. As a result of the changing shape procedure large sets of deformed conformations of the initial knot were obtained. Afterwards, these sets were subject to the shape-fitting procedure. It has been found that the conformation is different from the ideal conformation of the knot. © 2013 The Author(s).