Dynamics and scaling of polymers in a dilute solution: Analytical treatment in two and higher dimensions

Abstract

We consider the dynamical scaling of a single polymer chain in good solvent. In the case of two-dimensional systems, Shannon and Choy [Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1455 (1997)] have suggested that the dynamical scaling for a dilute polymer solution breaks down. Using scaling arguments and analytical calculations based on the Zimm model, we show that the dynamical scaling of a dilute two-dimensional polymer system holds when the relevant dynamical quantities are properly extracted from finite systems. Most important, the polymer diffusion coefficient in two dimensions scales logarithmically with system size, in excellent agreement with our extensive computer simulations. This scaling is the reason for the failure of the previous attempts to resolve the dynamical scaling of dilute two-dimensional polymer systems. In three and higher dimensions our analytic calculations are in agreement with previous results in the literature.