STATISTICAL-MODELS ON SPHERICAL GEOMETRIES

We use a one-dimensional random walk on D-dimensional hyperspheres to determine the critical behavior of statistical systems in hyperspherical geometries. First, we demonstrate the properties of such a walk by studying the phase diagram of a percolation problem. We find a line of second and first order phase transitions separated by a tricritical point. Then, we analyze the adsorption-desorption transition for a polymer growing near the attractive boundary of a cylindrical cell membrane. We find that the fraction of adsorbed monomers on the boundary vanishes exponentially when the adsorption energy decreases towards its critical value. © 1995 The American Physical Society.