Monte Carlo study of the frame, fluctuation and internal tensions of fluctuating membranes with fixed area

Abstract

Three types of surface tensions can be defined for lipid membranes: the internal tension, $\sigma$, conjugated to the real membrane area in the Hamiltonian, the mechanical frame tension, $\tau$, conjugated to the projected area, and the "fluctuation tension", $r$, obtained from the fluctuation spectrum of the membrane height. We investigate these surface tensions by means of a Monge gauge lattice Monte Carlo simulation involving the exact, nonlinear, Helfrich Hamiltonian and a measure correction for excess entropy of the Monge gauge. Our results for the relation between $\sigma$ and $\tau$ agrees well with the theoretical prediction of [J.-B. Fournier and C. Barbetta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2008, 100, 078103] based on a Gaussian approximation. This provides a valuable knowledge of~$\tau$ in the standard Gaussian models where the tension is controlled by $\sigma$. However, contrary to the conjecture in the above paper, we find that $r$ exhibits no significant difference from $\tau$ over more than five decades of tension. Our results appear to be valid in the thermodynamic limit and are robust to changing the ensemble in which the membrane area is controlled.

7 pages, 4 figures, mistake in the fluctuation tension is fixed

References in corpus (9)

• A novel method for measuring the bending rigidity of model lipid membranes by simulating tethers
• Membrane-Protein Interactions in a Generic Coarse-Grained Model for Lipid Bilayers
• Anisotropic surface tension of buckled fluid membrane
• Coarse-Grained Simulations of Membranes under Tension
• Are stress-free membranes really 'tensionless'?
• Mechanical surface tension governs membrane thermal fluctuations
• Model-free thermodynamics of fluid vesicles
• Small membranes under negative surface tension
• Reply to Comment on: "Are stress-free membranes really 'tensionless'?"

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Thermal properties of graphene from path-integral simulations
• Anharmonicity of the acoustic modes of graphene
• Thermal properties of graphene under tensile stress
• Binding of Curvature-Inducing Proteins onto Biomembranes
• Undulation Amplitude of a Fluid Membrane in a Near-Critical Binary Fluid Mixture Calculated beyond the Gaussian Model Supposing Weak Preferential Attraction
• Nonequilibrium Membrane Dynamics Induced by Active Protein Interactions and Chemical Reactions: A Review
• Nuclear quantum effects in graphane
• Frame tension governs the thermal fluctuations of a fluid membrane: new evidence
• Curvature-sensing and generation by membrane proteins: a review
• Virtual bending method to calculate bending rigidity, saddle-splay modulus, and spontaneous curvature of thin fluid membrane
• Membrane Stretching Elasticity of Lipid Vesicle and Thermal Shape Fluctuations
• Isotopic effects in chair graphane
• Effect of surfactants on the elasticity of the liquid--liquid interface
• Quantum nuclear motion in silicene: Assessing structural and vibrational properties through path-integral simulations
• Elastic properties of silicene: Spinodal instabilities
• Statistical mechanics of thermal fluctuations of nearly spherical membranes: the influence of bending and stretching elasticities