Quantitative Tube Model for Semiflexible Polymer Solutions

We develop an analytical and quantitative theory of the tube model
concept for entangled networks of semiflexible polymers. The
absolute value of the tube diameter L ⊥ is derived as a function of
the polymers' persistence length l p and mesh size ξ of the
network. To leading order, we find L ⊥ = 0.31ξ6/5 l p -1/5 , which
is consistent with known asymptotic scaling laws. Additionally, our
theory provides finite-length corrections that can account for
effects of polydispersity. We support our analytical studies by
extensive computer simulations. These allow to verify assumptions
essential to our theoretical description and provide an excellent
agreement with the analytically calculated tube diameter.
Furthermore, we present simulation data for the distribution
function of tube widths in the network.