Small membranes under negative surface tension

Abstract

We use computer simulations and a simple free energy model to study the response of a bilayer membrane to the application of a negative (compressive) mechanical tension. Such a tension destabilizes the long wavelength undulation modes of giant vesicles, but it can be sustained when small membranes and vesicles are considered. Our negative tension simulation results reveal two regimes - (i) a weak negative tension regime characterized by stretching-dominated elasticity, and (ii) a strong negative tension regime featuring bending-dominated elastic behavior. This resembles the findings of the classic Evans and Rawicz micropipette aspiration experiment in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) [Phys, Rev. Lett. {\bf 64}, 2094 (1990)]. However, while in GUVs the crossover between the two elasticity regimes occurs at a small positive surface tension, in smaller membranes it takes place at a moderate negative tension. Another interesting observation concerning the response of a small membrane to negative surface tension is related to the relationship between the mechanical and fluctuation tensions, which are equal to each other for non-negative values. When the tension decreases to negative values, the fluctuation tension $γ$ drops somewhat faster than $τ$ in the small negative tension regime, before it saturates (and becomes larger than $τ$) for large negative tensions. The bending modulus exhibit an "opposite" trend. It remains almost unchanged in the stretching-dominated elastic regime, and decreases in the bending-dominated regime. Both the amplitudes of the thermal height undulations and the projected area variations diverge at the onset of mechanical instability.