The escape transition in a self-avoiding walk model of linear polymers

A grafted linear polymer compressed underneath an AFM tip can be modelled as a lattice polymer compressed between a piston and a hard wall. As the piston approaches the wall, the polymer escapes to explore conformations beside the piston. This conformational change is a phase transition, believed to be first order, based on numerical results in the literature. In this talk I will prove that there is an escape transition in the lattice model in the thermodynamic limit corresponding to the escape transition of a compressed grafted linear polymer. Additionally, numerical estimates of the location of the escape transition critical point, based on Monte Carlo simulations, will be reported. These numerical data strongly support the conjecture that this transition is first order.