Adsorption of a polyampholyte on a charged spherical particle

We develop a scaling theory for a single polyampholyte chain adsorbed on a charged spherical particle in a theta-solvent. Adsorption of a polyampholyt e molecule is due to its polarization in the electrostatic field of the par ticle. For large particles with sizes exceeding the thickness of the adsorb ed layer, the conformations of the chain are similar to the one found for p olyampholyte adsorption on charged planar surface. However, an adsorbed pol yampholyte chain forms a self-similar flower-like structure near the partic les with sizes smaller than its Gaussian size. These self-similar structure s result from the balance of the polarization energy of loops and the exclu ded volume interactions between monomers. The structure of an adsorbed poly ampholyte in the flower-like conformation is similar to that of a neutral s tar polymer.