Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We develop a new, dynamical field theory of isotropic randomly branched polymers, and we use this model in conjunction with the renormalization group (RG) to study several prominent problems in the physics of these polymers. Our model provides an alternative vantage point to understand the swollen phase via dimensional reduction. We reveal a hidden Becchi-Rouet-Stora (BRS) symmetry of the model that describes the collapse (θ-)transition to compact polymer conformations, and calculate the critical exponents to 2-loop order. It turns out that the long-standing 1-loop results for these exponents are not entirely correct. A runaway of the RG flow indicates that the so-called θ'-transition could be a fluctuation-induced first-order transition.
Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Authors: H.-K. Janssen, O. Stenull
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2016495869