Proof of gridlock in a polymer model

Abstract

It has been suggested that some lattice models of polymers, especially ones that incorporate more realistic excluded volume interactions extending to further neighbors, may be subject to gridlock. A model is defined to have the property of gridlock if it cannot melt at any temperature unless a density decrease is allowed. Classical theories of polymer melting are incompatible with the property of gridlock. This paper proves rigorously that a two-dimensional square-lattice model of polymer chains that have nearest-neighbor excluded volume interactions (called the X1S model) has the gridlock property. The proof uses elementary concepts from graph theory. Also, different interpretations of the X1S model are given in terms of real polymers. This leads to a discussion of a number of different classes of melting depending upon whether the intramolecular rotameric energies and the attractive intermolecular energies are antagonistic to or supportive of the melting transition.