POLYMER STATISTICS .2. NEW SIMULATION OF POLYMERS IN SOLUTION

A new method of simulating the equilibrium shape of linear polymers in solution is presented, based on the analytical output of the statistical mechanical treatment of polymers using the pair approximation of the cluster variation method (CVM). The reported simulation has the following features: it can form a simulation of the equilibrium state of a polymer system by one sweep of the field; therefore it is fast, even if the size of the system is large. Although the average length of polymers in the system is specified by a parameter in the CVM calculation, the analytical output describes a system composed of different-length polymers. The average end-to-end distance is measured as a function of the length l, and gives the length dependence l(nu) with nu = 0.52 for the phase separation case and 0.59 for the athermal case. The result indicates the capability of the simulation to distinguish between the different configurations taken by the polymers under different solvent conditions.