Polymers interacting with mesoscopic particles

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Abstract
We consider the depletion interaction between mesoscopic particles and non-adsorbing free polymer chains. For one and two spherical particles we investigate the depletion profiles of monomer and end densities of the embedding polymer solution. The profiles take a finite limit for large Flory radius and Edwards screening length. The influence of the excluded volume interaction between chain monomers is studied for the case of one particle. We demonstrate how the polymer-induced force between two particles emerges from the monomer density profile near the surface of one of the particles. The evaluation of the polymer densities follows from a new type of `fusion procedure' in the equivalent field theory.
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