title: Collision of polymers in a vacuum.
abstract: In a number of experimental situations, single-polymer molecules can be suspended in a vacuum. Here collisions between such molecules are considered. The limit of high collision velocity is investigated numerically for a variety of conditions. The distribution of contact times, scattering angles, and final velocities are analyzed. In this limit, self-avoiding chains are found to become highly stretched as they collide with each other and have a distribution of scattering times that depends on the scattering angle. The velocity of the molecules after the collisions is similar to predictions of a model assuming thermal equilibration of molecules during the collision. The most important difference is a significant subset of molecules that inelastically scatter but do not substantially change direction.
authors: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Deutsch