Statistical mechanics of solutions of semiflexible chains: a path integral formulation

Abstract

A path integral formulation has been used to study the behavior of a single chain in the solution of many semiflexible chains. The Flory-Huggins approximation on lattices suggests that the chains undergo a phase transition from a high temperature isotropic phase to an anisotropic phase where the chains are rod-like. Using a self-consistent approximation, we, however, find that, at any stiffness, long chains (in the limit of the chain length going to infinity) remain in the disordered state.