Semiflexible equilibrium polymers: a self-assembling molecular model

We propose a continuum molecular model for self-assembling, semiflexible, equilibrium polymers and study its statistical mechanics by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. If the temperature (T) is high, we find a disordered phase in which the mean length (L) of polymers is small. A first-order transition separates it from a low-T phase in which (L) is larger and the semiflexible polymers are aligned enough to yield nematic ordering. Disordered, glassy states can be obtained at low T; we study these by an MC analogue of scanning calorimetry (Menon et al. (1993, 1995, 1999)). We also use an MC method to study shear alignment of polymers (Berret et al. (1994)) in our mode