| Issue |
EPL
Volume 95, Number 4, August 2011
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 48004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/95/48004 | |
| Published online | 01 August 2011 | |
Theory of the asymmetric ripple phase in achiral lipid membranes
1
Raman Research Institute - C V Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560 080, India
2
National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR), GKVK Campus - Bangalore 560 065, India
Received:
1
April
2011
Accepted:
1
July
2011
We present a phenomenological theory of phase transitions in achiral lipid membranes in terms of two coupled order parameters —a scalar order parameter describing lipid chain melting, and a vector order parameter describing the tilt of the hydrocarbon chains below the chain-melting transition. Existing theoretical models fail to account for all the observed features of the phase diagram, in particular the detailed microstructure of the asymmetric ripple phase lying between the fluid and the tilted gel phase. In contrast, our two-component theory reproduces all the salient structural features of the ripple phase, providing a unified description of the phase diagram and microstructure.
PACS: 87.16.D- – Membranes, bilayers, and vesicles / 61.30.Dk – Continuum models and theories of liquid crystal structure
© EPLA, 2011
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.