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Universal properties of active membranes.

Francesco Cagnetta1, Viktor Škultéty1, Martin R Evans1

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Summary

We developed a field theory for fluid membranes with activators, revealing a crossover between acoustic and diffusive scaling. This theory explains cell membrane dynamics and reveals universal behaviors distinct from passive interfaces.

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Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Biophysics
  • Soft Matter Physics

Background:

  • Fluid membranes are essential biological structures.
  • Embedded activators influence membrane dynamics.
  • Understanding membrane critical properties is key to cell motility.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a general field theory for fluid membranes with embedded activators.
  • To analyze the critical properties of these membranes using renormalization group techniques.
  • To investigate the crossover between acoustic and diffusive scaling regimes.

Main Methods:

  • General field theory formulation.
  • Renormalization group (RG) techniques.
  • Analysis of critical exponents and scaling regimes.

Main Results:

  • Identified a crossover between acoustic and diffusive scaling regimes based on membrane-activator coupling.
  • Determined mean-field dynamical critical exponents z=1 (acoustic) and z=2 (diffusive).
  • Acoustic scaling accurately describes early-time membrane behavior and spatiotemporal patterns in motile cells.
  • Diffusive scaling exhibits universal behavior distinct from Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling and shows strong-coupling signs.

Conclusions:

  • The developed field theory provides a framework for understanding active fluid membranes.
  • Acoustic scaling is exact and relevant to cellular processes.
  • Diffusive scaling reveals novel universal physics beyond passive interface models.