Revisiting the entropic force between fluctuating biological membranes
arXiv:1307.1807 · doi:10.1016/j.jmps.2013.09.011
Abstract
The complex interplay between the various attractive and repulsive forces that mediate between biological membranes governs an astounding array of biological functions: cell adhesion, membrane fusion, self-assembly, binding-unbinding transition among others. In this work, the entropic repulsive force between membranes---which originates due to thermally excited fluctuations---is critically reexamined both analytically and through systematic Monte Carlo simulations. A recent work by Freund \cite {Freund13} has questioned the validity of a well-accepted result derived by Helfrich \cite{Helfrich78}. We find that, in agreement with Freund, for small inter-membrane separations (), the entropic pressure scales as , in contrast to Helfrich's result: . For intermediate separations, our calculations agree with that of Helfrich and finally, for large inter-membrane separations, we observe an exponentially decaying behavior.
accepted to Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids
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