We provide a statistical-mechanical theory for a system of free polymer molecules in a colloidal solution. It is shown that three-body terms are required to obtain the shape of the polymer and the depletion-layer profile even when the dispersion medium is a good solvent for the polymer molecule. A semiquantitative analysis based on the density profile suggests that the addition of trace amounts (dilute) of free polymer induces the formation of weak flocs.
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Shaw et al. (1991) studied this question.