Scaling analysis of narrow necks in curvature models of fluid lipid-bilayer vesicles

Fourcade, Bertrand ; Miao, Ling ; Rao, Madan ; Wortis, Michael ; Zia, R. K. P. (1994) Scaling analysis of narrow necks in curvature models of fluid lipid-bilayer vesicles Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics, 49 (6). pp. 5276-5286. ISSN 1539-3755

Full text not available from this repository.

Official URL: http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v49/i6/p5276_1

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.49.5276

Abstract

Under appropriate conditions fluid lipid-bilayer vesicles in aqueous solution take the form of two (or more) compact shapes connected by a narrow neck (or necks). We study the limit (termed "vesiculation") in which the neck radius a approaches zero. On the basis of elastic equations, derived originally by Deuling and Helfrich [J. Phys. (Paris) 37, 1335 (1976)] for a bending-energy model (the spontaneous-curvature model), we show analytically that, at vesiculation, the local curvatures of the two regions joined by the neck satisfy a simple, universal "kissing" (osculation) condition. Furthermore, for points near but not at the vesiculation limit, a is small but nonzero and there is characteristic scaling behavior. For example, in the surface tension (σ) and pressure (p) variables, the vesiculation boundary is a line in the (σ,p) plane, and the quantity a lna scales linearly with the distance (Δσ,Δp) from the boundary. These relations have been observed numerically, but no analytic discussion has previously appeared in the literature. Results for the spontaneous-curvature model generalize easily to other (more physical) bending-energy models.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to The American Physical Society.
ID Code:67265
Deposited On:29 Oct 2011 11:51
Last Modified:29 Oct 2011 11:51

Repository Staff Only: item control page