Universality approach to the expansion factor of a polymer chain

Attention is drawn to recent developments in the theory of critical point thermodynamics, which can be of great help in elucidating classical problems relating to the size and shape of a molecular chain, when intramolecular forces are taken into account. It is suggested that the two-parameter functi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymer (Guilford) 1976-01, Vol.17 (3), p.179-184
Main Authors: Domb, C., Barrett, A.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Attention is drawn to recent developments in the theory of critical point thermodynamics, which can be of great help in elucidating classical problems relating to the size and shape of a molecular chain, when intramolecular forces are taken into account. It is suggested that the two-parameter function used to describe the expansion factor, α 2, of the end-to-end length of a polymer chain, is ‘universal’, i.e. the same for lattice and continuum models. Hence well-established numerical data of self-avoiding walks on lattices can be used to test various formulae which have been advanced for α 2. By combining these numerical data with the well-known virial expansion, a new formula is proposed to represent the two-parameter function.
ISSN:0032-3861
1873-2291
DOI:10.1016/0032-3861(76)90096-3