Monte Carlo Simulations of a Semi-Flexible Polymer Chain: A First Glance

There are many examples of polymer systems, ranging in complexity from strands of DNA and protein molecules to examples of simple plastics. Regardless of the level of complexity, the three dimensional structure of a polymer chain will determine many of its most important properties. Monte Carlo methods have shown great promise in studying polymer conformation problems [1]. In particular, a wide variety of Monte Carlo methods have been applied to single chain polymer systems that include flexibility[2–4]. Many of these types of studies consider the bond fluctuation model [5], in which the monomer positions are confined to a lattice. Through the use of a polymer model with continuous monomer positions, we hope to add more realism to the study of general polymer conformation problems. In this preliminary work, we concentrate on understanding the basic features of our polymer model, such as equilibration time, overall size of equilibrated configurations, and location of transition temperatures. In particular, we examine the transition between folded and unfolded states.