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    Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Feb 19;86(8):1414-7.

    Knots and random walks in vibrated granular chains.

    Source

    Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico 87545, USA.

    Abstract

    We study experimentally statistical properties of the opening times of knots in vertically vibrated granular chains. Our measurements are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with a theoretical model involving three random walks interacting via hard-core exclusion in one spatial dimension. In particular, the knot survival probability follows a universal scaling function which is independent of the chain length, with a corresponding diffusive characteristic time scale. Both the large-exit-time and the small-exit-time tails of the distribution are suppressed exponentially, and the corresponding decay coefficients are in excellent agreement with theoretical values.

    PMID:
    11290156
    [PubMed]

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