Physics – Condensed Matter – Soft Condensed Matter
Scientific paper
2004-10-25
Phys. Rev. E, 71, 041907, (2005)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Soft Condensed Matter
4 pages no figures RevTex
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.71.041907
We calculate the thermal Casimir effect for a dielectric tube of radius $R$ and thickness delta formed from a membrane in water. The method uses a field-theoretic approach in the grand canonical ensemble. The leading contribution to the Casimir free energy behaves as -k_BTL kappa_C/R giving rise to an attractive force which tends to contract the tube. We find that kappa_C ~ 0.3 for the case of typical lipid membrane t-tubules. We conclude that except in the case of a very soft membrane this force is insufficient to stabilize such tubes against the bending stress which tends to increase the radius.
Dean David S.
Horgan Ronald R.
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