E. Corvera et al., APPLICATION OF FINITE-SIZE SCALING TO THE PINK MODEL FOR LIPID BILAYERS, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, 47(1), 1993, pp. 696-703
We present a Monte Carlo finite-size scaling analysis of the Pink mode
l with the fitted parameters appropriate for dipalmitoyl phosphatidylc
holine and disteroyl phosphatidylcholine lipid-bilayer systems. The nu
merical simulations were performed in conjunction with the extrapolati
on method of Ferrenberg and Swendsen [Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2635 (1988)
] and the finite-size scaling method of Lee and Kosterlitz [Phys. Rev.
Lett. 65, 137 (1990)]. In contrast to previous work, we found that th
ere is no first-order phase transition and that the abrupt jump in the
order parameter and the enhancement of the response functions found b
y previous numerical simulations are due to the presence of strong lat
eral density fluctuations which give rise to a large correlation lengt
h.