IS POLYMER SPINODAL DECOMPOSITION SPECIAL? .

The dynamics of first-order phase transitions, in particular spinodal decomposition, is currently attracting much attention from both theorists and experimentalists. There exists a small but rapidly growing literature on the spinodal mechanism in polymeric systems, and it is natural to ask whether these exhibit any special behavior due to topologic effects, such as chain connectivity or entanglements. The purpose of this short communication is to state the regime of validity of present theoretical understanding and to point out that near the critical point these topologic effects should be unimportant.