title: Thermodynamic behaviour of two-dimensional vesicles revisited.
abstract: We study pressurised self-avoiding ring polymers in two dimensions using Monte Carlo simulations, scaling arguments and Flory-type theories, through models which generalise the model of Leibler, Singh and Fisher (Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 1989 (1987)). We demonstrate the existence of a thermodynamic phase transition at a non-zero scaled pressure [Formula: see text] , where [Formula: see text] = Np/4[Formula: see text] , with the number of monomers N                         [Formula: see text] ∞ and the pressure p                         [Formula: see text] 0 , keeping [Formula: see text] constant, in a class of such models. This transition is driven by bond energetics and can be either continuous or discontinuous. It can be interpreted as a shape transition in which the ring polymer takes the shape, above the critical pressure, of a regular N -gon whose sides scale smoothly with pressure, while staying unfaceted below this critical pressure. Away from these limits, we argue that the transition is replaced by a sharp crossover. The area, however, scales with N(2) for all positive p in all such models, consistent with earlier scaling theories.
authors.affiliation: S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Salt Lake, Kolkata, India. mithun@bose.res.in
authors.forename: Mithun K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.forename: Gautam I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rajesh
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D044367:Phase Transition; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011312:Pressure; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers