On the Critical Behavior of a Homopolymers Model

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the critical behavior of a homopolymer model at the phase transition point, revealing dimension-dependent properties that lie between diffusive and globular phases.

Contribution

It provides a detailed description of the polymer's behavior exactly at the critical parameter, extending previous work on phase transition analysis.

Findings

Behavior at critical point is dimension-dependent.

Critical state is intermediate between diffusive and globular phases.

Phase transition characterized by spectral properties of an operator.

Abstract

Taking $P^0$ to be the measure induced by simple, symmetric nearest neighbor continuous time random walk on ${\bf{Z^d}}$ starting at $0$ with jump rate $2d$ define, for $\beta\ge 0,\,t>0,$ the Gibbs probability measure $P_{\beta,t}$ by specifying its density with respect to $P^0$ as \begin{eqnarray} \frac{dP_{\beta,t}}{dP^0}=Z_{\beta,t}(0)^{-1}e^{\beta \int_0^t\delta_0(x_s)ds} \end{eqnarray} where $Z_{\beta,t}(0)\equiv E^0[e^{\beta \int_0^t\delta_0(x_s)ds}].$ This Gibbs probability measure provides a simple model for a homopolymer with an attractive potential at the origin. In a previous paper \cite{CM07}, we showed that for dimension $d\ge3$ there is a phase transition in the behavior of these paths from diffusive behavior for $\beta$ below a critical parameter to positive recurrent behavior for $\beta$ above this critical value. This corresponds to a transition from a diffusive or stretched out phase to a globular phase for the polymer. The critical value was determined by means of the spectral properties of the operator $\Delta+\beta\delta_0$ where $\Delta$ is the discrete Laplacian on ${\bf{Z^d}}.$ In this paper we give a description of the polymer at the critical value where the phase transition takes place. The behavior at the critical parameter is in some sense midway between the two phases and dimension dependent.