Effects of the excluded volume interactions on the conformational properties of star polymers

The effects of the excluded volume interactions on the conformational properties of star polymers have been studied. First order calculations at the critical dimensionality d = 4 yield the critical exponents of the average quantities up to first order in ε = 4-d. We thus find the partition function, the probability of the end of a branch to reach the central core and the probability of contact of the ends of two branches. The size of the macromolecule, expressed by the mean square radius of gyration 〈s²〉_star is studied in the region where the interactions between the polymeric units repel one another and in the region where the units attract one another. The results are compared with the results of previous works and with experiments.