Growth kinetics of circular liquid domains on vesicles by diffusion-controlled coalescence

Motivated by recent experiments on multicomponent membranes, the growth kinetics of domains on vesicles are theoretically studied. It is known that the steady-state rate of coalescence cannot be obtained by taking the long-time limit of the coalescence rate when the membrane is regarded as an infinite two-dimensional (2D) system. The steady-state rate of coalescence is obtained by explicitly taking into account the spherical vesicle shape. Using the expression for the 2D diffusion coefficient obtained in the limit of small domain size, an analytical expression for domain growth kinetics is obtained when a circular shape is always maintained. For large domains, the growth kinetics are discussed by investigating the size dependence of the coalescence rate, using the expression for the diffusion coefficient of arbitrary domain size.