STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS OF THE PEELING OF A POLYMER FROM A LINE

We consider models for the peeling of a polymer molecule, from a surface. investigated recently by Dimarzio and Guttman. We give a technique, based on an integral identity. which enables the sums in the partition functions for the models considered by them to be evaluated exactly. The technique reproduces the results of DiMarzio and Guttman as the lowest approximation and explicitly shows how one can obtain better approximations. Analytical results for the case of a force parallel to the line, which they have not been able to find, are given. It is also shown how results for the peeling of a random flight chain, which go beyond the Gaussian approximation, can be obtained.