Adsorbed self-avoiding walks subject to a force (Q2857972)

The authors consider a self-avoiding walk model of polymer adsorption. In this model, the adsorbed polymer is desorbed by the application of a force. In this paper, it is imposed that the force is applied normal to the surface at the last vertex of the walk. It is proved that free energy exists in the appropriate limiting. Moreover, it is also proved that the free energy is convex in appropriate variables. It is driven an expression for the limiting free energy in terms of the free energy without a force and the free energy with no surface interaction. The authors are able to establish that there is a phase boundary between the adsorbed phase and the desorbed phase in the presence of a force. Certain qualitative properties of this boundary are studied as well.