  We consider a coarse-grained model in which polymers under good-solvent
conditions are represented by soft spheres whose radii, which should be
identified with the polymer radii of gyrations, are allowed to fluctuate. The
corresponding pair potential depends on the sphere radii. This model is a
single-sphere version of the one proposed in Vettorel et al., Soft Matter 6,
2282 (2010), and it is sufficiently simple to allow us to determine all
potentials accurately from full-monomer simulations of two isolated polymers
(zero-density potentials). We find that in the dilute regime (which is the
expected validity range of single-sphere coarse-grained models based on
zero-density potentials) this model correctly reproduces the density dependence
of the radius of gyration. However, for the thermodynamics and the
intermolecular structure, the model is largely equivalent to the simpler one in
which the sphere radii are fixed to the average value of the radius of gyration
and radiiindependent potentials are used: for the thermodynamics there is no
advantage in considering a fluctuating sphere size.

Soft Condensed Matter;Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;Statistical Mechanics