Monte Carlo Study of an Axially Symmetric Vesicle

Abstract

Shapes of a three-dimensional and axially-symmetric vesicle are studied by the Monte Carlo simulation of a joint-segment model. At finite temperatures and pressures, various shapes of a vesicle such as a sphere, a dumbbell, a codocyte-I,II, a torocyte and a rotated triangular-like shape are obtained. The phase diagram at the lowest temperature agrees quantitatively with the one obtained in the ground state by Seifert et al. using the variational calculation of the continuum elastic energy. Dynamical processes of shape transformations are also investigated.