Can surface bound states be induced by interfacial roughness?

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Abstract
The authors show that long polymer chains may bind to surfaces which are curved or rough if the equivalent planar interface is sufficiently close to supporting bound states. Analogous results apply to the binding of point quantum mechanical particles. Attractive interactions favour binding preferentially on the invaginations of the surface, but they find that entropy/kinetic energy favours binding at the outward extremities. Which effect dominates depends on details of the interaction potential and both cases should be observable in practice.

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