Related papers: Giant vesicles at the prolate-oblate transition: A…
A model of vesicle electrodeformation is described which obtains a parametrized vesicle shape by minimizing the sum of the membrane bending energy and the energy due to the electric field. Both the vesicle membrane and the aqueous media…
Vesicles are micrometric soft particles whose the membrane is a two-dimensional incompressible fluid governed by bending resistance leading to a zoology of shapes. The dynamics of deflated vesicles in shear flow with a bottom wall, a first…
The external electric field deforms flaccid phospholipid vesicles into spheroidal bodies, with the rotational axis aligned with its direction. Deformation is frequency dependent: in the low frequency range (~ 1 kHz), the deformation is…
The hydration process of multi-stacked phospholipid bilayers to form giant vesicles was investigated by time-resolved small angle X-ray scattering. The hydration of lipids in the liquid-crystalline phase was found to proceed in two stages.…
We study spatiotemporal chaos in two-dimensional dense active suspensions using a generalized hydrodynamic model. Increasing activity induces a structural transition marked by the formation of intense vortices and giant number fluctuations…
Singularities in macroscopic systems at discontinuous phase transitions are replaced in finite systems by sharp but continuous changes. Both the energy differences between metastable and stable phases and the energy barriers separating…
In many geophysical and astrophysical flows, suppression of fluctuations along one direction of the flow drives a quasi-2D upscale flux of kinetic energy, leading to the formation of strong vortex condensates at the largest scales. Recent…
(200 words) Oxidation of unsaturated lipids is a fundamental process involved in cell bioenergetics as well as in cell death. Using giant unilamellar vesicles and a chlorin photosensitizer, we asymmetrically oxidized the outer or inner…
We study a dynamical phase transition in optical bistable systems subject to a time-periodic driving field. The phase transition occurs in the structure of limit cycle as a function of the frequency of the driving field. In the…
We consider a driven-dissipative system consisting of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensates loaded into a two-dimensional Hubbard lattice and coupled to a single mode of an optical cavity. Due to the interplay between strong, repulsive atomic…
Turbulent flow restricted to two dimensions can spontaneously develop order on large scales, defying entropy expectations and in sharp contrast with turbulence in three dimensions where nonlinear turbulent processes act to destroy…
We systematize and extend the description of vesicle growth and shape change using linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. By restricting the study to shape changes from spheres to axisymmetric ellipsoids, we are able to give a consistent…
Cellular transformations which involve a significant phenotypical change of the cell's state use bistable biochemical switches as underlying decision systems. In this work, we aim at linking cellular decisions taking place on a time scale…
Some members of the vegetal kingdom can achieve surprisingly fast movements making use of a clever combination of evaporation, elasticity and cavitation. In this process, enthalpic energy is transformed into elastic energy and suddenly…
Spatial diffusion of particles in periodic potential models has provided a good framework for studying the role of chaos in global properties of classical systems. Here a bidimensional "soft" billiard, classically modeled from an optical…
Turbulence is a widely observed state of fluid flows, characterized by complex, nonlinear interactions between motions across a broad spectrum of length and time scales. While turbulence is ubiquitous, from teacups to planetary atmospheres,…
Motivated by recent experiments, we theoretically analyze the flow past an obstacle of a one-dimensional "quantum fluid of light" which is resonantly driven, and exhibits bistability. The flow is found to abruptly change several times when…
Thermally activated transitions are ubiquitous in nature, occurring in complex environments which are typically conceived as ideal viscous fluids. We report the first direct observations of a Brownian bead transiting between the wells of a…
We consider bootstrap percolation on uncorrelated complex networks. We obtain the phase diagram for this process with respect to two parameters: $f$, the fraction of vertices initially activated, and $p$, the fraction of undamaged vertices…
Using a microfluidic trap, we study the behavior of individual phospholipid vesicles in contact with fatty acids. We show that spontaneous fatty acids insertion inside the bilayer is controlled by the vesicle size, osmotic pressure…