Structure of polyelectrolytes in solution: A Monte Carlo study

Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study strongly charged chains in solution. The charges on the chains are assumed to interact with a screened Coulomb potential of the Debye-Huckel type. Similarly to the behavior obtained in simulations with the full long range interaction, the single-chain structure factor exhibits different scaling regimes at short and large length scales, respectively. To examine the effect of interchain interaction, we compare the many-chain results with single-chain simulations done at the same degree of screening. In agreement with other simulations but in contradiction to theory, at finite polymer concentration the chains are found to contract well below the overlap density.