  A novel Stochastic Event-Driven Molecular Dynamics (SEDMD) algorithm is
developed for the simulation of polymer chains suspended in a solvent. The
polymers are represented as chains of hard spheres tethered by square wells and
interact with the solvent particles with hard core potentials. The algorithm
uses Event-Driven Molecular Dynamics (EDMD) for the simulation of the polymer
chain and the interactions between the chain beads and the surrounding solvent
particles. The interactions between the solvent particles themselves are not
treated deterministically as in event-driven algorithms, rather, the momentum
and energy exchange in the solvent is determined stochastically using the
Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The coupling between the solvent
and the solute is consistently represented at the particle level, however,
unlike full MD simulations of both the solvent and the solute, the spatial
structure of the solvent is ignored. The algorithm is described in detail and
applied to the study of the dynamics of a polymer chain tethered to a hard wall
subjected to uniform shear. The algorithm closely reproduces full MD
simulations with two orders of magnitude greater efficiency. Results do not
confirm the existence of periodic (cycling) motion of the polymer chain.
