Session P13: Membranes: General, Surface, Biological
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Room: B112
Sponsoring Unit:
DFD
Chair: Haskell Taub, University of Missouri
Abstract ID: BAPS.2010.MAR.P13.3
Abstract: P13.00003 : Coarse-grain simulation studies of lipid vesicles
8:24 AM–8:36 AM
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Abstract 
Authors:
Robin Selinger
(Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State Univ.)
Jun Geng
(Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State Univ.)
Jonathan Selinger
(Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State Univ.)
We model the shape evolution of an initially spherical lipid vesicle when the lipid bilayer undergoes a transition from an untilted phase to a tilted phase. Our coarse-grain model is a generalization of an approach due to Lykotrafetis, Zhang, Suresh and Li [preprint], and is efficient enough to allow simulation of an entire vesicle in three dimensions. Topological defects are generated during the phase transformation with a total topological charge of +2 as required by the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. These defects couple to the curvature of the membrane. We explore the resulting complex shape evolution and compare to both theoretical predictions and experimental observations.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2010.MAR.P13.3