Abstract

We explore the long-standing discrepancy between an experimentally observed sudden onset of the excluded-volume effect in stiff chains [Murakami , Macromolecules 13, 345 (1980)] and much more gradual onset seen by Monte Carlo simulations of the persistent self-avoiding walk model. We find by using various simulations and real-space renormalization methods that, while models incorporating parallel-bond inhibition enhance the excluded-volume effect, they have little effect on the abruptness of its onset. We also observe that relaxational simulations, which include reptationlike motion can, however, lead to a sudden onset much like in the experimental observation.

Published in:

Physical Review E 74,5 (2006) 051107;

Date of Version

January 2006

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.