title: Shape and stability of two-dimensional lipid domains with dipole-dipole interactions.
abstract: We study the general energy and shape of the two-dimensional solid monolayer domains with the dipole-dipole interactions. Compared with the domain energy without tilted dipole moments [M. Iwamoto and Z. C. Ou-Yang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 206101 (2004)], the general dipolar energy is not only shape and size but also boundary orientation dependent. The general shape equation derived by this energy using variational approach predicts a circular solution and an equilibrium shape grown from this circle. In particular, the latter is composed of two branches: a translation-induced growth of all odd harmonic modes and a pressure-induced cooperative deformation by all even harmonic modes. The good qualitative agreement between our prediction and the experimental observations shows the validity of the present theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan. iwamoto@pe.tiech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mitsumasa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhong-can
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Ou-Yang