Investigation of the end-to-end vector distribution function for linear polymers in different regimes

Monte Carlo simulations employing the pivot algorithm are used to generate off-lattice three-dimensional linear polymers in three regimes: nonexcluded volume, theta, and excluded volume. The end-to-end vector distribution function is calculated from the resulting configurations. It is found that the shape of the distribution function is Gaussian for nonexcluded volume chains, nearly Gaussian for theta chains, and that the scaling form derived by des Cloizeaux fits the data for excluded volume chains well.