A scale-free network hidden in the collapsing polymer


Abstract in English

We show that the collapsed globular phase of a polymer accommodates a scale-free incompatibility graph of its contacts. The degree distribution of this network is found to decay with the exponent $gamma = 1/(2-c)$ up to a cut-off degree $d_c propto L^{2-c}$, where $c$ is the loop exponent for dense polymers ($c=11/8$ in two dimensions) and $L$ is the length of the polymer. Our results exemplify how a scale-free network (SFN) can emerge from standard criticality.

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