Open AccessAutonomous topological time crystals and knotty molecular motors
Author(s) -
Jin Dai,
Xubiao Peng,
Antti J. Niemi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. condensed matter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 228
eISSN - 1361-648X
pISSN - 0953-8984
DOI - 10.1088/1361-648x/abb682
Subject(s) - hamiltonian (control theory) , coulomb , molecular dynamics , physics , string (physics) , molecular motor , topology (electrical circuits) , chain (unit) , classical mechanics , statistical physics , theoretical physics , quantum mechanics , materials science , mathematics , nanotechnology , combinatorics , mathematical optimization , electron
We show that topology is a very effective tool, to construct classical Hamiltonian time crystals. For this we numerically analyze a general class of time crystalline Hamiltonians that are designed to model the dynamics of molecular closed strings. We demonstrate how the time crystalline qualities of a closed string are greatly enhanced when the string becomes knotted. The Hamiltonians that we investigate include a generalized Kratky–Porod wormlike chain model in combination with long range Coulomb and Lennard–Jones interactions. Such energy functions are commonplace in coarse grained molecular modeling. Thus we expect that physical realizations of Hamiltonian time crystals can be constructed in terms of knotted ring molecules.