1,845 research outputs found
The unbinding transition of mixed fluid membranes
A phenomenological model for the unbinding transition of multi-component
fluid membranes is proposed, where the unbinding transition is described using
a theory analogous to Flory-Huggins theory for polymers. The coupling between
the lateral phase separation of inclusion molecules and the membrane-substrate
distance explains the phase coexistence between two unbound phases as observed
in recent experiments by Marx et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 138102 (2002)].
Bellow a critical end-point temperature, we find that the unbinding transition
becomes first-order for multi-component membranes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 eps figure
Thermal Casimir drag in fluctuating classical fields
A uniformly moving inclusion which locally suppresses the fluctuations of a
classical thermally excited field is shown to experience a drag force which
depends on the dynamics of the field. It is shown that in a number of cases the
linear friction coefficient is dominated by short distance fluctuations and
takes a very simple form. Examples where this drag can occur are for stiff
objects, such as proteins, nonspecifically bound to more flexible ones such as
polymers and membranes.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 2 figure
A novel method for measuring the bending rigidity of model lipid membranes by simulating tethers
The tensile force along a cylindrical lipid bilayer tube is proportional to
the membrane's bending modulus and inversely proportional to the tube radius.
We show that this relation, which is experimentally exploited to measure
bending rigidities, can be applied with even greater ease in computer
simulations. Using a coarse-grained bilayer model we efficiently obtain bending
rigidities that compare very well with complementary measurements based on an
analysis of thermal undulation modes. We furthermore illustrate that no
deviations from simple quadratic continuum theory occur up to a radius of
curvature comparable to the bilayer thickness.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
The Effect of Thermal Fluctuations on Schulman Area Elasticity
We study the elastic properties of a two-dimensional fluctuating surface
whose area density is allowed to deviate from its optimal (Schulman) value. The
behavior of such a surface is determined by an interplay between the
area-dependent elastic energy, the curvature elasticity, and the entropy. We
identify three different elastic regimes depending on the ratio
between the projected (frame) and the saturated areas. We show that thermal
fluctuations modify the elastic energy of stretched surfaces (),
and dominate the elastic energy of compressed surfaces (). When
the elastic energy is not much affected by the fluctuations; the
frame area at which the surface tension vanishes becomes smaller than and
the area elasticity modulus increases.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in Euro. Phys. J.
Crumpling transition of the triangular lattice without open edges: effect of a modified folding rule
Folding of the triangular lattice in a discrete three-dimensional space is
investigated by means of the transfer-matrix method. This model was introduced
by Bowick and co-workers as a discretized version of the polymerized membrane
in thermal equilibrium. The folding rule (constraint) is incompatible with the
periodic-boundary condition, and the simulation has been made under the
open-boundary condition. In this paper, we propose a modified constraint, which
is compatible with the periodic-boundary condition; technically, the
restoration of translational invariance leads to a substantial reduction of the
transfer-matrix size. Treating the cluster sizes L \le 7, we analyze the
singularities of the crumpling transitions for a wide range of the bending
rigidity K. We observe a series of the crumpling transitions at K=0.206(2),
-0.32(1), and -0.76(10). At each transition point, we estimate the latent heat
as Q=0.356(30), 0.08(3), and 0.05(5), respectively
Fluctuation induced interactions between domains in membranes
We study a model lipid bilayer composed of a mixture of two incompatible
lipid types which have a natural tendency to segregate in the absence of
membrane fluctuations. The membrane is mechanically characterized by a local
bending rigidity which varies with the average local lipid
composition . We show, in the case where varies weakly with
, that the effective interaction between lipids of the same type can
either be everywhere attractive or can have a repulsive component at
intermediate distances greater than the typical lipid size. When this
interaction has a repulsive component, it can prevent macro-phase separation
and lead to separation in mesophases with a finite domain size. This effect
could be relevant to certain experimental and numerical observations of
mesoscopic domains in such systems.Comment: 9 pages RevTex, 1 eps figur
Folding of the triangular lattice in a discrete three-dimensional space: Crumpling transitions in the negative-bending-rigidity regime
Folding of the triangular lattice in a discrete three-dimensional space is
studied numerically. Such ``discrete folding'' was introduced by Bowick and
co-workers as a simplified version of the polymerized membrane in thermal
equilibrium. According to their cluster-variation method (CVM) analysis, there
appear various types of phases as the bending rigidity K changes in the range
-infty < K < infty. In this paper, we investigate the K<0 regime, for which the
CVM analysis with the single-hexagon-cluster approximation predicts two types
of (crumpling) transitions of both continuous and discontinuous characters. We
diagonalized the transfer matrix for the strip widths up to L=26 with the aid
of the density-matrix renormalization group. Thereby, we found that
discontinuous transitions occur successively at K=-0.76(1) and -0.32(1).
Actually, these transitions are accompanied with distinct hysteresis effects.
On the contrary, the latent-heat releases are suppressed considerably as
Q=0.03(2) and 0.04(2) for respective transitions. These results indicate that
the singularity of crumpling transition can turn into a weak-first-order type
by appreciating the fluctuations beyond a meanfield level
Compression modulus of macroscopic fiber bundles
We study dense, disordered stacks of elastic macroscopic fibers. These stacks
often exhibit non-linear elasticity, due to the coupling between the applied
stress and the internal distribution of fiber contacts. We propose a
theoretical model for the compression modulus of such systems, and illustrate
our method by studying the conical shapes frequently observed at the
extremities of ropes and other fiber structures. studying the conical shapes
frequently observed at theextremities of ropes and other fiber structures
Rigid Chiral Membranes
Statistical ensembles of flexible two-dimensional fluid membranes arise
naturally in the description of many physical systems. Typically one encounters
such systems in a regime of low tension but high stiffness against bending,
which is just the opposite of the regime described by the Polyakov string. We
study a class of couplings between membrane shape and in-plane order which
break 3-space parity invariance. Remarkably there is only {\it one} such
allowed coupling (up to boundary terms); this term will be present for any
lipid bilayer composed of tilted chiral molecules. We calculate the
renormalization-group behavior of this relevant coupling in a simplified model
and show how thermal fluctuations effectively reduce it in the infrared.Comment: 11 pages, UPR-518T (This replaced version has fonts not used
removed.
Swelling of particle-encapsulating random manifolds
We study the statistical mechanics of a closed random manifold of fixed area
and fluctuating volume, encapsulating a fixed number of noninteracting
particles. Scaling analysis yields a unified description of such swollen
manifolds, according to which the mean volume gradually increases with particle
number, following a single scaling law. This is markedly different from the
swelling under fixed pressure difference, where certain models exhibit
criticality. We thereby indicate when the swelling due to encapsulated
particles is thermodynamically inequivalent to that caused by fixed pressure.
The general predictions are supported by Monte Carlo simulations of two
particle-encapsulating model systems -- a two-dimensional self-avoiding ring
and a three-dimensional self-avoiding fluid vesicle. In the former the
particle-induced swelling is thermodynamically equivalent to the
pressure-induced one whereas in the latter it is not.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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