- Letter
Phase separation on surfaces in the presence of matter exchange
Phys. Rev. E 108, L012801 – Published 25 July, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.108.L012801
Abstract
We present a field theory to describe the composition of a surface spontaneously exchanging matter with its bulk environment. By only assuming matter conservation in the system, we show with extensive numerical simulations that, depending on the matter exchange rates, a complex patterned composition distribution emerges on the surface. For one-dimensional systems we show analytically and numerically that coarsening is arrested and as a consequence domains have a characteristic length scale. Our results show that the causes of heterogeneous lipid composition in cellular membranes may be justified in simple physical terms.
