Phases and fluctuations in a model for asymmetric inhomogeneous fluid membranes

Thermal fluctuations and stiffening of symmetric heterogeneous fluid membranes

We study the effects of thermal fluctuations on symmetric tensionless heterogeneous (two-component) fluid membranes in a simple minimal model. Close to the critical point T(c) of the associated miscibility phase transition of the composition and for sufficiently strong curvature-composition interactions, mediated through a composition-dependent bending modulus, thermal fluctuations lead to enhancement of the effective bending modulus. Thus, the membrane conformation fluctuations will be suppressed near T(c), in comparison with a pure fluid membrane, for which thermal fluctuations are known to reduce the effective bending modulus at all nonzero temperatures.