Persistence length of the Debye-Hückel model of weakly charged flexible polyelectrolyte chains

We present simulations of the basic analytic model of weakly charged polyelectrolytes: monovalently charged monomers with Debye-H\"uckel interaction coupled by harmonic springs. Quantities such as the chain radii, bond lengths, structure factors, persistence lengths, and scaling properties were examined. The persistence length LP shows a sublinear dependence on the screening length rD=1/{κ} (LP{~}κ^-y,y1) in strong contrast to all known analytical approaches which propose either y=2 or y=1. The observed exponent y varies as a function of {κ} and the bond length b. {} 1996 The American Physical Society.