  Several orders of magnitude typically separate the contour length of
eukaryotic chromosomes and the size of the nucleus where they are confined. The
ensuing topological constraints can slow down the relaxation dynamics of
genomic filaments to the point that mammalian chromosomes are never in
equilibrium over a cell's lifetime. In this opinion article, we revisit these
out-of-equilibrium effects and discuss how their inclusion in physical models
can enhance the spatial reconstructions of interphase eukaryotic genomes from
phenomenological constraints collected during interphase.
