2012/05/31 by Matthew F. Demers, Matthew Demers, Rastko Sknepnek +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Artificial intelligence #Attraction #Biological system #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Component (thermodynamics) #Computer science #Curvature #Electrowetting and Microfluidic Technologies #Geometry #Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior #Materials science #Mathematics #Membrane #Micro and Nano Robotics #Monte Carlo method #Pairwise comparison #Physics #Statistical physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.86.021504
published as Phys. Rev. E 86, 021504 (2012) · 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. E, revised version includes improvements of the simulation method and additional references
arxiv created 2012/07/31 · openalex publication_date 2012/08/15 · arxiv updated 2012/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study closed liquid membranes that segregate into three phases due to differences in the chemical and physical properties of its components. The shape and in-plane membrane arrangement of the phases are coupled through phase-specific bending energies and line tensions. We use simulated annealing Monte Carlo simulations to find low-energy structures, allowing both phase arrangement and membrane shape to relax. The three-phase system is the simplest one in which there are multiple interface pairs, allowing us to analyze interfacial preferences and pairwise distinct line tensions. We observe the system's preference for interface pairs that maximize differences in spontaneous curvature. From a pattern selection perspective, this acts as an effective attraction between phases of most disparate spontaneous curvature. We show that this effective attraction is robust enough to persist even when the interface between these phases is the most penalized by line tension. This effect is driven by geometry and not by any explicit component-component interaction.