Related papers: Why polymer chains in a melt are not random walks
We discuss theoretically and numerically the intramolecular form factor $F(q)$ in dense polymer systems. Following Flory's ideality hypothesis, chains in the melt adopt Gaussian configurations and their form factor is supposed to be given…
In polymer physics it is typically assumed that excluded volume interactions are effectively screened in polymer melts. Hence, chains could be described by an effective random walk without excluded volume interactions. In this letter, we…
Following the Flory ideality hypothesis intrachain and interchain excluded volume interactions are supposed to compensate each other in dense polymer systems. Multi-chain effects should thus be neglected and polymer conformations may be…
A central paradigm of polymer physics states that chains in melts behave like random walks as intra- and interchain interactions effectively cancel each other out. Likewise, $\theta$-chains, i.e., chains at the transition from a swollen…
The equilibrium structure and dynamics of a single polymer chain in a thermal solvent is by now well-understood in terms of scaling laws. Here we consider a polymer in a bacterial bath, i.e. in a solvent consisting of active particles which…
It is commonly accepted that in concentrated solutions or melts high-molecular weight polymers display random-walk conformational properties without long-range correlations between subsequent bonds. This absence of memory means, for…
We perform molecular-dynamics simulations for polymer melts of the coarse-grained polyvinyl alcohol model that crystallizes upon slow cooling. To establish the properties of its high temperature liquid state as a reference point, we…
Presenting theoretical arguments and numerical results we demonstrate long-range intrachain correlations in concentrated solutions and melts of long flexible polymers which cause a systematic swelling of short chain segments. They can be…
A Flory theory is constructed for a long polymer ring in a melt of unknotted and non-concatenated rings. The theory assumes that the ring forms an effective annealed branched object and computes its primitive path. It is shown that the…
Proteins, chain molecules of amino acids, behave in ways which are similar to each other yet quite distinct from standard compact polymers. We demonstrate that the Flory theorem, derived for polymer melts, holds for compact protein native…
We study the swelling of a flexible linear chain composed of active particles by analytical theory and computer simulation. Three different situations are considered: a free chain, a chain confined to an external harmonic trap, and a chain…
We present a detailed study of the static and dynamic behavior of long semiflexible polymer chains in a melt. Starting from previously obtained fully equilibrated high molecular weight polymer melts [{\it Zhang et al.} ACS Macro Lett. 3,…
Polymer gels such as jellies and soft contact lenses are soft solids consisting of three-dimensional polymer networks swollen with a large amount of solvent. For approximately 80 years, the swelling of polymer gels has been described using…
This paper discusses the elastic behavior of polyelectrolyte networks. The deformation behavior of single polyelectrolyte chains is discussed. It is shown that a strong coupling between interactions and chain elasticity exists. The theory…
Following Flory's ideality hypothesis the chemical potential of a test chain of length $n$ immersed into a dense solution of chemically identical polymers of length distribution P(N) is extensive in $n$. We argue that an additional…
While Flory theories provide an extremely useful framework for understanding the behavior of interacting, randomly branching polymers, the approach is inherently limited. Here we use a combination of scaling arguments and computer…
We present computer simulations of three systems of randomly branching polymers in d=3 dimensions: ideal trees and self-avoiding trees with annealed and quenched connectivities. In all cases, we performed a detailed analysis of trees…
The radius of gyration of a polymer chain immersed in a low molecular weight solvent is known to vary monotonically with the solvent quality. Here, we consider the behavior of a chain immersed in a high molecular weight solvent (polymer…
A conceptual difficulty in the Hooke's-law description of ideal Gaussian polymer-chain elasticity is sometimes apparent in analyses of experimental data or in physical models designed to simulate the behavior of biopolymers. The problem,…
The Flory theory for a single polymer chain is derived as the lowest order of a cumulant expansion. In this approach, the full original Flory free energy (including the logarithmic term), is recovered. %This term does not change the…