Density profile of terminally attached polymer chains

Scaling theory hypothesizes a step-function profile for the segment density of polymer chains terminally attached to a planar wall. Using a self-consistent-field theory we give a perturbation analysis of the first-order correction to the step-function profile in order to gauge the impact of a possible tail. The new profile decays smoothly to zero without a discontinuity in the derivative (except near the wall). The segment density profile as scaled by the amplitude of the step-function profile has a tail that decays essentially as 1/{beta}z*2, with {beta} a dimensionless parameter and z* the distance from the wall scaled by the step length of the step-function profile. A scaling analysis would yield z*-4/3. 13 refs., 4 figs.