title: Critical Casimir effect in a polymer chain in supercritical solvents.
abstract: Density fluctuation effects on the conformation of a polymer chain in a supercritical solvent were investigated by performing a multiscale simulation based on the density-functional theory. We found (a) a universal swelling of the polymer chain near the critical point, irrespective of whether the polymer chain is solvophilic or solvophobic, and (b) a characteristic collapse of the polymer chain having a strong solvophilicity at a temperature slightly higher than the critical point, where the isothermal compressibility becomes less than the ideal one.
authors.affiliation: Department of Knowledge-based Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, 441-8580 Japan.
authors.forename: Tomonari
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumi
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Imazaki
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sekino