Persistent collective motion of a dispersing membrane domain

by Prof. Haim Diamant

School Of Chemistry, Tel-Aviv University

at Biological and soft-matter physics

Thu, 29 Apr 2021, 12:10
ZOOM only - Meeting ID: 874 2021 0979

Abstract

We study the Brownian motion of an assembly of mobile inclusions embedded in a fluid membrane. The motion includes the dispersal of the assembly, accompanied by the diffusion of its center of mass. Usually, the former process is much faster than the latter because the diffusion coefficient of the center of mass is inversely proportional to the number of particles. However, in the case of membrane inclusions, we find that the two processes occur on the same time-scale, thus significantly prolonging the lifetime of the assembly as a collectively moving object. This effect is caused by the quasi-two-dimensional membrane flows, which couple the motions of even the most remote inclusions in the assembly. The same correlations also cause the diffusion coefficient of the center of mass to decay slowly with time, resulting in weak sub-diffusion. We confirm our analytical results by Brownian dynamics simulations with flow-mediated correlations. The effect reported here should have implications for the stability of nanoscale membrane heterogeneities.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87420210979

Meeting ID: 874 2021 0979

Created on 07-03-2021 by Granek, Rony (rgranek)
Updaded on 29-04-2021 by Granek, Rony (rgranek)