2003/04/28 by Falko Ziebert, Walter Zimmermann
Computer Science · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.70.022902
published as Phys. Rev. E 70, 022902 (2004) · 4 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2003/04/28 · openalex publication_date 2004/08/30 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The biopolymers actin and microtubules are often in an ongoing assembling-disassembling state far from thermal equilibrium. Above a critical density this leads to spatially periodic patterns, as shown by a scaling argument and in terms of a phenomenological continuum model, which meets also Onsager's statistical theory of the nematic-to-isotropic transition in the absence of reaction kinetics. This pattern forming process depends much on nonlinear effects and a common linear stability analysis of the isotropic distribution of the filaments is often misleading. The wave number of the pattern decreases with the assembling-disassembling rate and there is an uncommon discontinuous transition between the nematic and periodic states.