NEARLY SPHERICAL VESICLES - SHAPE FLUCTUATIONS

Isolated vesicles with ''insufficient'' area have a finite surface ten sion and spherical shapes, whereas vesicles with ''excess'' area are n ecessarily aspherical. We consider the crossover behavior between both kinds of vesicles occurring as the equilibrium area increases. In the mean field approximation it is a second-order phase transition from t he spherical to aspherical shape. We demonstrate the fluctuations smea r the transition. The critical behavior of the amplitudes of fluctuati ons and of their characteristic times is investigated. (C) 1996 Americ an Institute of Physics.