Figure 1

Random start configuration of the simulation. For the sphere radius we choose $R_c=20$ to let the polymer with $N=20$ monomers circulate freely inside the sphere.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

(a) Specific heat as a function of temperature $T$ for selected values of $\epsilon$. (b) Specific heat as a function of the attraction strength $\epsilon$ of the inner wall of the sphere and temperature $T$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 3

Phase diagram of the homopolymer–attractive-sphere system as obtained in extensive multicanonical simulations. The boundaries separate the individual conformational phases. The bandwidth shows the variation of the peaks of temperature derivatives of different structural observables that have been analyzed simultaneously. As in the description given in the text, DE, DG, and DC label the desorbed phases of expanded, globular, and crystalline conformations, respectively. In addition, AE1 denotes completely adsorbed and AE2 partially adsorbed expanded structures, AG stands for the adsorbed globular regime, and the crystalline structures occur in various topologies with a different number of layers: AC4, adsorbed spherically symmetric; AC3, adsorbed three-layer structures; AC2, adsorbed two-layer structures; and AC1, adsorbed single-layer structures. Representative conformations are depicted in Fig. 4.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 4

Typical conformations in different regions of the phase diagram: DE, DG, and DC denote the regions where the homopolymer is desorbed; in the other regions labeled by A conformations are adsorbed (for a detailed description see the text).Reuse & Permissions

Figure 5

(a) $\langle R_g\rangle$ as a function of temperature $T$ for different values of $\epsilon$. (b) Three-dimensional plot of $\langle R_g\rangle$ as a function of attraction strength $\epsilon$ and temperature $T$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 6

(a) $d\langle R_g\rangle /dT$ for selected values of $\epsilon$ and (b) three-dimensional plot of $d\langle R_g\rangle /dT$ plotted against $\epsilon$ and $T$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 7

(a) Mean number of adsorbed monomers $\langle N_s\rangle$ at the inner wall of the sphere as a function of temperature $T$ for selected values of $\epsilon$. (b) Magnification of the lower left corner of (a) for small values of $\epsilon$ to show the starting point of adsorption, which is $\epsilon \approx 0.2$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 8

(a) $d\langle N_s\rangle /dT$ for selected values of $\epsilon$ and (b) three-dimensional plot of $d\langle N_s\rangle /dT$ plotted against $\epsilon$ and $T$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 9

Multicanonical histograms of energy $E$ and radius of gyration $R_g$ for different $\epsilon$ values.Reuse & Permissions