MONTE-CARLO STUDY OF AN AXIALLY-SYMMETRICAL VESICLE

Shapes of a three-dimensional and axially-symmetric vesicle are studie d by the Monte Carlo simulation of a joint-segment model. At finite te mperatures and pressures, various shapes of a vesicle such as a sphere , a dumbbell, a codocyte-I,II, a torocyte and a rotated triangular-lik e shape are obtained. The phase diagram at the lowest temperature agre es quantitatively with the one obtained in the ground state by Seifert et al. using the variational calculation of the continuum elastic ene rgy. Dynamical processes of shape transformations are also investigate d.