Related papers: Interface geometry of binary mixtures on curved su…
Consider a lipid membrane with a free exposed edge. The energy describing this membrane is quadratic in the extrinsic curvature of its geometry; that describing the edge is proportional to its length. In this note we determine the boundary…
Interactions mediated by the cell membrane between inclusions, such as membrane proteins or antimicrobial peptides, play important roles in their biological activity. They also constitute a fascinating challenge for physicists, since they…
We consider the impact of surface hydrodynamics on the interplay between curvature and composition in coarsening processes on model systems for biomembranes. This includes scaling laws and equilibrium configurations, which are investigated…
The transport of particles across lipid-bilayer membranes is important for biological cells to exchange information and material with their environment. Large particles often get wrapped by membranes, a process which has been intensively…
Variational principles are developed within the framework of a spinor representation of the surface geometry to examine the equilibrium properties of a membrane or interface. This is a far-reaching generalization of the Weierstrass-Enneper…
A novel two-leaflet description of lipid membranes is proposed. Within its framework, phase separation phenomena in multicomponent biological membranes are analyzed. As we show, interactions between the leaflets tend to suppress macroscopic…
We investigate how an externally imposed curvature influences lipid segregation on two-phase-coexistent membranes. We show that the bending-modulus contrast of the two phases and the curvature act together to yield a reduced effective line…
Lipid membrane with freely exposed edge is regarded as smooth surface with curved boundary. Exterior differential forms are introduced to describe the surface and the boundary curve. The total free energy is defined as the sum of Helfrich's…
Lipid membranes have complex compositions and modeling the thermodynamic properties of multi-component lipid systems remains a remote goal. In this work we attempt to describe the thermodynamics of binary lipid mixtures by mapping…
We study the phase separation of binary lipid mixtures that form bicontinuous cubic phases. The competition between non-uniform Gaussian membrane curvature and line tension leads to a very rich phase diagram, where we observe symmetry…
We consider a diffuse interface approximation for the lipid phases of rotationally symmetric two-phase bilayer membranes and rigorously derive its $\Gamma$-limit. In particular, we prove that limit vesicles are $C^1$ across interfaces,…
Lipid bilayer membranes are not uniform and clusters of lipids in a more ordered state exist within the generally disorder lipid milieu of the membrane. These clusters of ordered lipids microdomains are now referred to as lipid rafts.…
In this paper, phase field models are developed for multi-component vesicle membranes with different lipid compositions and membranes with free boundary. These models are used to simulate the deformation of membranes under the elastic…
Soft interfaces can mediate interactions between particles bound to them. The force transmitted through the surface geometry on a particle may be expressed as a closed line integral of the surface stress tensor around that particle. This…
A variety of models for the membrane-mediated interaction of particles in lipid membranes, mostly well-established in theoretical physics, is reviewed from a mathematical perspective. We provide mathematically consistent formulations in a…
Particles bound to an interface interact because they deform its shape. The stresses that result are fully encoded in the geometry and described by a divergence-free surface stress tensor. This stress tensor can be used to express the force…
We focus on the derivation and analysis of a model for multi-component phase separation occurring on biological membranes, inspired by observations of lipid raft formation. The model integrates local membrane composition with local membrane…
Hydrophobic thickness mismatch between integral membrane proteins and the surrounding lipid bilayer can produce lipid bilayer thickness deformations. Experiment and theory have shown that protein-induced lipid bilayer thickness deformations…
Cross-sections of cell shapes in a tissue monolayer typically resemble a tiling of convex polygons. Yet, examples exist where the polygons are not convex with curved cell-cell interfaces, as seen in the adaxial epidermis. To date,…
We analyze geometrical structures necessary to represent bulk and surface interactions of standard and substructural nature in complex bodies. Our attention is mainly focused on the influence of diffuse interfaces on sharp discontinuity…