Brownian dynamics study of the shape of star and linear polymers in different regimes

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Abstract
Brownian dynamics computer simulations are used to investigate the shape of linear and star polymers in three regimes: (1) excluded volume, (2) θ, (3) collapsed. It is found that the mean-square radius of gyration 〈S2〉 displays a different power law exponent in the different regimes: 〈S2〉∼(1) (N−1)1.2 (2) (N−1)1.0, and (3) (N−1)2/3 where N is the number of chain units. The pair-correlation function using the central vertex bead as the origin reveals the polymer structure. In the collapsed regime the structure resembles face-centered-cubic (FCC) packing. The g ratio of star/linear chains as well as the asphericity of the polymers have been determined for the three regimes.

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