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 $\langle L \rangle$ of polymers is small. A first-order transition separates it from a low-T phase in which $\langle L \rangle$ 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 G. I., Pandit R. and Barma M., Europhys. Lett., 24 (1993) 253; Menon G. I. and Pandit R., Phys. Rev. Lett., 75 (1995) 4638; Phys. Rev. E, 59 (1999) 787). We also use an MC method to study shear alignment of polymers (Berret J. F., Roux D. C. and Porte G., J. Phys. II, 4 (1994) 1261; Berret J. F., Roux D. C., Porte G. and Lindner P., Europhys. Lett., 25 (1994)521) in our model)