Coherent States Formulation of Polymer Field Theory*

We developed a coherent-states formulation of equilibrium polymer field theory. Compared with the traditional Edwards' auxiliary field framework that underpins both field-theoretic simulation (FTS) and self-consistent field theory (SCFT) methods, this formulation has a number of attractive features, including much more local operators and a finite order polynomial action. The formalism is developed in the grand canonical ensemble for the Edwards model of polymers in an implicit solvent, and we show how to derive a numerically tractable scheme. We explore the efficiency and stability of the method in mean-field and~fully fluctuating simulations for a polymer solution confined to a~slit in one dimension.