Em. Sevick et Drm. Williams, A polymer end-tethered to a potential stripe: A simple example of an escape transition, MACROMOLEC, 32(20), 1999, pp. 6841-6846
We study the problem of a single ideal polymer chain tethered to a surface
at the midpoint of a repulsive potential stripe. If the potential is very w
eak, the chain remains unperturbed. However, as the potential is increased,
the chain conformation undergoes a sudden change. The chain forms a tether
to the edge of the stripe and moves most of the monomers off to the region
of lower potential. This is a simple example of an escape transition previ
ously discussed for compression of polymer chains. We show how these two sy
stems are analogous and clear up some controversy regarding the exact form
of the force versus height curve for the compressive system.