  We study the adhesive contact between elastic solids with randomly rough,
self affine fractal surfaces. We present molecular dynamics (MD) simulation
results for the interfacial stress distribution and the wall-wall separation.
We compare the MD results for the relative contact area and the average
interfacial separation, with the prediction of the contact mechanics theory of
Persson. We find good agreement between theory and the simulation results. We
apply the theory to the system studied by Benz et al. involving polymer in
contact with polymer, but in this case the adhesion gives only a small
modification of the interfacial separation as a function of the squeezing
pressure.
