Topological polymers: an application of Chern-Simons field theories
Franco Ferrari, Hagen M. Kleinert, IGNAZIO LAZZIZZERA · Macromolecular Symposia · 2002
After a brief introduction to the statistical mechanics of polymers, it will be shown how abelian topological field theories of the Chern-Simons type enter naturally in the description of a system of linked polymers, solving the difficulties of previous approaches. A field theoretical model of topological polymers will be presented and some of its physical predictions on the statistical behavior of polymers in a solution will be discussed.