Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We consider the phase transition induced by compressing a self-avoiding walk in a slab where the walk is attached to both walls of the slab in two and three dimensions, and the resulting phase once the polymer is compressed. The process of moving between a stretched situation where the walls pull apart to a compressed scenario is a phase transition with some similarities to that induced by pulling and pushing the end of the polymer. However, there are key differences in that the compressed state is expected to behave like a lower dimensional system, which is not the case when the force pushes only on the end point of the polymer. We use scaling arguments to predict the exponents both associated with the phase transition and in the compressed state and find good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.
Source: Physical review. E
DOI: 10.1103/wtrv-4g4h
Authors: C. J. Bradly, N. R. Beaton, A. L. Owczarek
Institution: The University of Melbourne
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Australian Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W4415068632