Pulling self-interacting polymers in two dimensions

Abstract

We investigate a two-dimensional problem of an isolated self-interacting end-grafted polymer, pulled by one end. In the thermodynamic limit, we find that the model has only two different phases, namely a collapsed phase and a stretched phase. We show that the phase diagram obtained by Kumar [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 128101 (2007)] for small systems, where differences between various statistical ensembles play an important role, differs from the phase diagram obtained here in the thermodynamic limit. © 2009 The American Physical Society.