Abstract
We investigate the stability of tubular fluid membranes by perturbing them with optical tweezers. A peristaltic instability appears, with wavelength on the order of the tube circumference, characterized by tautness and suppression of curvature fluctuations in the membrane. We interpret this in terms of a model that includes a surface tension term in the elastic energy, and describes a transition to stable, finite amplitude peristaltic states. At high amplitudes the experiment reveals new dynamic states of "pearls" interconnected via thin tubes along which they travel and aggregate.
- Received 19 April 1994
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.1392
©1994 American Physical Society