M. Wortis et al., THERMAL SHAPE FLUCTUATIONS OF FLUID-PHASE PHOSPHOLIPID-BILAYER MEMBRANES AND VESICLES, Journal of molecular liquids, 71(2-3), 1997, pp. 195-207
After an introductory review of the physics of lipid-bilayer self-asse
mbly, we discuss the origins of the area-difference elasticity model,
a Landau-like theory which describes the mesoscale shape mechanics of
bilayer sheets and vesicles. We introduce the notion of a phase diagra
m for mechanically stable low-energy vesicle shapes. We summarize what
is now known about these shapes and about the transitions between the
m induced by changing control parameters, especially emphasizing the i
mportance of metastability. In a final section devoted to recent work
on thermal fluctuations, we outline a program for calculating normal m
ode energies and eigenshapes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.