Soft Matter: Vesicle Thermal Fluctuations

Lipid bilayer vesicles fluctuate due to thermal energy kT. The Helfrich model gives bending energy F = ½κ∫(2H)²dA. Flicker spectroscopy reveals the bending modulus κ from fluctuation amplitudes.

Mean fluctuation ⟨u²⟩^½: 0 nm | Modes shown: 2–8