SHAPE TRANSITIONS OF LIPID MONOLAYER DOMAINS IN AN EXTERNAL-FIELD

The equilibrium shapes of lipid monolayer domains are normally determi ned by the balance between the interface (line tension) energy and the long-range electrostatic repulsion between lipid dipoles. When an ext ernal electric field acts on the monolayer, a third energy term affect s the domain shapes: the energy of the dipoles in the external field. We study the effects of a static field on harmonic shape transitions a nd of a periodically varying field on the dynamics of a distorting lip id domain.