Variational Problems in Elastic Theory of Biomembranes, Smectic-a Liquid Crystals, and Carbon Related Structures
Mathematical Physics
2007-05-23 v3 Differential Geometry
math.MP
Abstract
After a brief introduction to several variational problems in the study of shapes of thin thickness structures, we deal with variational problems on 2-dimensional surface in 3-dimensional Euclidian space by using exterior differential forms. The morphological problems of lipid bilayers and stabilities of cell membranes are also discussed. The key point is that the first and the second order variations of the free energy determine equilibrium shapes and mechanical stabilities of structures.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.math-ph/0506055,
title = {Variational Problems in Elastic Theory of Biomembranes, Smectic-a Liquid Crystals, and Carbon Related Structures},
author = {Z. C. Tu and Z. C. Ou-Yang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math-ph/0506055},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
12 pages + 3 figures. For the Seventh International Conference on Geometry, Integrability and Quantization, Varna, 2005