Explanation of anomalous scaling of swollen entangled chains

The unexpected scaling dependence R-n similar to n(0.72) of the size Rn of the chain section with n monomers observed in recent numerical simulations of a swollen network and globule is explained on the basis of the slip-tube model. We demonstrate that the anomalous exponent 0.72 is the result of a crossover between swollen chain scaling with Flory exponent 0.6 on small length scales and chain stretching with exponent 1 on larger length scales. This picture confirms that swelling of network chains occurs by their disinterpenetration on small length scales.