1995/03/07 by Yacov Kantor, Mehran Kardar
Chemistry · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Charge (physics) #Chemistry #Combinatorics #Condensation #Condensed matter physics #Critical exponent #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #Enumeration #Exponent #Mass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications #Materials science #Mathematics #Monomer #Nuclear magnetic resonance #Phase transition #Physics #Polymer #Quantum mechanics #Sequence (biology) #Superconductivity #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #Transition temperature #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.52.835
published as Phys. Rev. E52, 835-846 (1995) · 15 pages, RevTex, 14 uuencoded postscript figures
arxiv created 1995/03/07 · openalex publication_date 1995/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We perform an exact enumeration study of polymers formed from a (quenched) random sequence of charged monomers \ifmmode±\else\textpm\fiq0. Such polymers, known as polyampholytes, are compact when completely neutral and expanded when highly charged. Our exhaustive search includes all spatial conformations and quenched sequences for up to 12-step (13-site) walks. We investigate the behavior of the polymer as a function of its overall excess charge Q and temperature T. At low temperatures there is a phase transition from compact to extended configurations when the charge exceeds Qc\ensuremath\approxeqq0/ \ensuremath\surdN . There are also indications of a transition for small Q between two compact states on varying temperature. Numerical estimates are provided for the condensation energy, surface tension, and the critical exponent \ensuremathν.