THE POISSON RATIO OF CRYSTALLINE SURFACES

A remarkable theoretical prediction for a crystalline (polymerized) su rface is that its Poisson ratio sigma is negative. Using a large-scale Monte Carlo simulation of a simple model of such surfaces we show tha t this is indeed true. The precise numerical value we find is sigma si milar or equal to -0.32 on a 128(2) lattice at bending rigidity kappa = 1.1. This is in excellent agreement with the prediction sigma = -1/3 following from the self-consistent screening approximation of Le Dous sal and Radzihovsky.