title: Knots and random walks in vibrated granular chains.
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.
authors: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Ben-Naim
authors: Z A
authors: ZA
authors: Daya
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Vorobieff
authors: R E
authors: RE
authors: Ecke