Trajectories of directed lattice paths

Abstract

The distribution of monomers along a linear polymer grafted on a hard wall is modelled by determining the probability distribution of occupied vertices of Dyck path and Dyck meander models of adsorbing linear polymers. For example, the probability that a Dyck path passes through the lattice site with coordinates in the square lattice, for 0 < ϵ < 1 and δ ≥ 0, is determined asymptotically as n → ∞ and this uncovers the probability density of vertices along Dyck paths in the limit as the length of the path n approaches infinity: P(D)(ϵ,δ)=4δ2πϵ31−ϵ3e−δ2/ϵ(1−ϵ). The properties of a polymer coating of a hard wall and the density or distribution of monomers in the coating is relevant in applications such as the stabilisation of a colloid dispersion by a polymer or in a drug delivery system such as a drug-eluding stent covered by a grafted polymer.