Long-range elastic forces between membrane inclusions in spherical vesicles

P. G. Dommersnes; J. B. Fournier; P. Galatola

doi:10.1209/epl/i1998-00235-7

All issues

Volume 42 / No 2 (April II 1998)

Europhys. Lett., 42 2 (1998) 233-238

Abstract

Issue		Europhys. Lett. Volume 42, Number 2, April II 1998


Page(s)		233 - 238
Section		Cross-disciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1998-00235-7
Published online		01 September 2002

Europhys. Lett., 42 (2), pp. 233-238 (1998)

Long-range elastic forces between membrane inclusions in spherical vesicles

P. G. Dommersnes¹, J. B. Fournier¹ and P. Galatola²

¹ Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, F-75231 Paris Cédex 05, France
² Dipartimento di Fisica del Politecnico di Torino Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Torino, Italy

Corresponding author: jbf@turner.pct.espci.fr

Received: 14 November 1997
Accepted: 19 February 1998

Abstract

We compute the elastic interaction between two identical conical inclusions in a spherical vesicle. We find it always repulsive and proportional to the square of the contact angle. At small angular separations ${\mit\Theta}$ it decays as ${\mit\Theta}^{-4}$ , as in the case of planar membranes. After a crossover ${\mit\Theta}_{\rm c}\sim\psi^{0.54}$ , where ψ is the inclusions' aperture, it decays as ${\mit\Theta}^{-0.33}$ , yielding a much stronger force than in a flat membrane. Finally, a quadratic minimum around the anti-polar configuration ${\mit\Theta}=\pi$ is reached.

PACS: 87.22.Bt – Membrane and subcellular physics and structure / 34.20.-b – Interatomic and intermolecular potentials and forces, potential energy surfaces for collisions

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