Dynamics of crumpling of fluid-like amphiphilic membranes

Abstract

Fluid-like amphiphilic membranes, in the absence of self-avoidance, are known to be crumpled in equilibrium at all non-vanishing temperatures. We propose a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach to investigate the kinetics of 'disordering' of such a membrane at a non-zero temperature starting from an artificially prepared flat conformation. We carry out a dynamic renormalization group analysis by exploiting some similarities between the crumpling process and the phenomenon of phase separation in binary alloys. The similarities and differences between this crumpling process and the phenomenon of roughening of crystal surfaces heated above the roughening temperature are also pointed out.