Recent developments in the theory of polymer gels

We review the results of a recently developed theory of randomly cross-linked polymer gels. The theory is based on the exact statistical mechanical solution of the Edwards model which takes into account both the frozen disorder of network structure and excluded-volume effects. Predictions are made for the behavior of individual network chains, the density correlation functions which are directly measured by neutron and light-scattering experiments and for the thermodynamics of gels. We now have a complete statistical description of polymer gels in good solvents, ranging from monomer length scales to the continuum limit.