MICRO MESOSCOPIC APPROACHES TO THE RING FORMATION IN LINEAR WORMLIKE MICELLAR SYSTEMS/

We hereby present i) a microscopic model for the self-assembly of line ar wormlike micelles for which scission/recombination processes and lo op formation are allowed, and ii) a mesoscopic analytic description of such systems. Both approaches predict the extent of loop formation as function of the micellar concentration, the end-cap energy and the fl exibility of micelles. As a matter of fact, even if loop formation is unfavorable under many conditions, e.g., for stiff micelles and low en d cap energies, they have to be treated correctly in any statistical a pproach to their behavior, since their presence can significantly affe ct the relaxation time spectrum, the rheological behavior and correlat ion function of various types.