Effects of the interaction range on structural phases of flexible polymers.

We systematically investigate how the range of interaction between non-bonded monomers influences the formation of structural phases of elastic, flexible polymers. Massively parallel replica-exchange simulations of a generic, coarse-grained model, performed partly on graphics processing units and in multiple-gaussian modified ensembles, pave the way for the construction of the structural phase diagram, parametrized by interaction range and temperature. Conformational transitions between gas-like, liquid, and diverse solid (pseudo) phases are identified by microcanonical statistical inflection-point analysis. We find evidence for finite-size effects that cause the crossover of "collapse" and "freezing" transitions for very short interaction ranges.