Excluded-volume expansion of polymer chains: A Monte Carlo study of the scaling properties

Results are presented of Monte Carlo simulations of continuum-model polymer chains which results confirm the idea that for long chains the degree of expansion due to excluded volume depends on the interaction range σ, on N, the number of links, and on the link size a through a single variable z(σa)3N. The expansion factor ψ(z) is very close in form to that found by Lax, Barrett, and Domb for lattice models of a polymer. For z, ψ(z) follows a power law predicted by Flory. For finite chains there are corrections to ψ(z) which depend on N and on the form of the interaction.