Ring polymer physics and rheology: Challenges and opportunities
Understanding the structure and dynamics of ring or cyclic polymers is a long-standing challenge in polymer science, with important implications for emerging biological phenomena such as chromosome territories. This Perspective article provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of ring polymer physics and rheology, highlighting emerging challenges and opportunities for future research. Key scientific questions are considered regarding the properties of synthetic and biological ring polymer systems using theory, simulations, and experiments. This article was inspired by stimulating discussions at a CECAM Flagship workshop on Ring Polymer Dynamics in Prato, Italy, in June 2023. Several of the concepts and results discussed here are also presented in the Journal of Rheology virtual issue on ring polymers (https://pubs.aip.org/jor/collection/1392/Ring-Polymers). Broadly, this article aims to spark conceptual advances in polymer physics and rheology by exploring new phenomena and open scientific questions that are unique to ring polymer systems.
Authors
- M. Rubinstein
- Rae M. Robertson‐Anderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4475-4667)
- Christos N. Likos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3550-4834)
- M. Kruteva
- Charles M. Schroeder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6023-2274)
- Ralf Everaers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6843-2753)
- Kurt Kremer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1842-9369)
- Thomas P. O’Connor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5643-644X)
- Gregory B. McKenna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5676-9930)
- D. R. Richter
- Dimitris Vlassopoulos
- Kenneth S. Schweizer
- J. Ravi Prakash
Institutions
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of Crete (GR)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of San Diego (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- Princeton University (US)
- Hokkaido University (JP)
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (DE)
- Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS de Lyon (FR)
- FORTH Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (GR)
- Monash University (AU)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Rheology
- Published
- 2025-12-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1122/8.0001099
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Rheology and Fluid Dynamics Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.44