Fluctuation effects on microphase separation in random copolymers

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Abstract
We study random copolymers consisting of two kinds of monomers, with attraction between similar kinds. The mean-field analysis of this system indicates a continuous phase transition into a phase with periodic microdomain structure. It is shown that the inverse of the renormalized propagator has a minimum at non-zero wavenumbers. Consequently, there is an anomalously large contribution of fluctuations that make the disordered phase locally stable at every finite temperature. However, below a certain temperature, the ordered phase is shown to be locally stable and a weak first-order transition is possible, similar to the weak crystallization theory developed by Brazovskii.
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