Abstract
The study of the configurational statistical mechanics of polymers in elongational flows requires the evaluation of quadratic path integrals. Here we present a new technique for the evaluation of such path integrals; the method relies on Ito excursion theory and the Ray-Knight theorem from probability theory. In addition to providing a powerful computational method in standard cases, the method generalizes to deal with quadratic path integrals for branching processes.
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Dean, D.S., Jansons, K.M. Excursions for polymers in elongational flows. J Stat Phys 79, 265–297 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02179390
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02179390