Electrostatic rigidity of polyelectrolytes from reparametrization invariance

✍ Scribed by Arkady L. Kholodenko; Jack F. Douglas; Thomas A. Vilgis

• Book ID: 102496656
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 361 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1344
• DOI: 10.1002/mats.1996.040050109

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The persistence length l~p~ of a polyelectrolyte chain can be represented as l~p~ = l~O~ + l~e~ where l~O~ is the bare persistence and I~e~ is the electrostatic contribution coming from the effects of electrostatic chain self‐interactions. Using a reparametrization‐invariant path integral model of semiflexible polymers we find that I~e~ depends on the ionic strength I as I~e~ ∼ I^−1/2^. This result accords with experimental observations and recent Monte Carlo simulations. Reparametrization‐invariance is apparently an essential constrainet in selecting acceptable models of semiflexible polymers.