New Method for the Statistical Computation of Polymer Dimensions

A new method is described for the generation of excluded volume random walks of contour lengths comparable to those of real polymer molecules. This work was carried out with a high-speed electronic digital computer. An essential feature of the method is an unbiased sample enrichment process used to counteract the attrition resulting from chain intersections. Using the new method, samples were generated for chains of 800 links, a limit imposed by machine storage capacity. In principle the method could be carried even further if more storage were available. Mean-square end-to-end lengths of the chains are expressed by the equation 〈rn2〉=anb,where n equals the number of links and a and b are constants.