Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T07:53:55.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The number of polygons on a lattice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

J. M. Hammersley
Affiliation:
Trinity CollegeOxford

Extract

In this paper an n-stepped self-avoiding walk is defined to be an ordered sequence of n + 1 mutually distinct points, each with (positive, negative, or zero) integer coordinates in d-dimensional Euclidean space (where d is fixed and d ≥ 2), such that any two successive points in the sequence are neighbours, i.e. are unit distance apart. If further the first and last points of such a sequence are neighbours, the sequence is called an (n + 1)-sided self-avoiding polygon. Clearly, under this definition a polygon must have an even number of sides. Let f(n) and g(n) denote the numbers of n-stepped self-avoiding walks and of n-sided self-avoiding polygons having a prescribed first point. In a previous paper (3), I proved that there exists a connective constant K such that

Here I shall prove the truth of the long-standing conjecture that

I shall also show that (2) is a particular case of an expression for the number of n-stepped self-avoiding walks with prescribed end-points, a distance o(n) apart, this being another old and popular conjecture.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1961

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Fisher, M. E. and Sykes, M. F.Excluded-volume problem and the Ising model of ferromagnetism. Phys. Rev. 114 (1959), 4558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Frisch, H. L. and Wasserman, E. Topological chemistry of closed ring systems. Catenanes, rings, etc. (Private communication, 09 1960.)Google Scholar
(3)Hammersley, J. M.Percolation processes II. The connective constant. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 53 (1957), 642–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(4)Hammersley, J. M.Limiting properties of numbers of self-avoiding walks. Phys. Rev. 118 (1960), 656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5)Hammersley, J. M. The rate of convergence to the connective constant of the hypercubical lattice (submitted for publication).Google Scholar
(6)Rushbrooke, G. S. and Eve, J.On non-crossing lattice polygons. J. Chem. Phys. 31 (1959), 1333–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(7)Wall, F. T., Hiller, L. A. and Atchison, W. F.Statistical computation of mean dimensions of macromolecules. J. Chem. Phys. 23 (1955), 913–21; 2314–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(8)Wall, F. T. and Erpenbeck, J. J.New method for the statistical computation of polymer dimensions. J. Chem. Phys. 30 (1959), 634–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(9)Wall, F. T. and Erpenbeck, J. J.Statistical computation of radii of gyration and mean internal dimensions of polymer molecules. J. Chem. Phys. 30 (1959), 637–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar