Relaxation rate of the shape fluctuation of a fluid membrane immersed in a near-critical binary fluid mixture.

Abstract

We consider the two-time correlation of the shape fluctuation of a fluid membrane immersed in a near-critical binary fluid mixture. Usually one component of the mixture is preferably attracted by the membrane. Adsorption layers, where the preferred component is more concentrated, are generated on both sides of the membrane significantly because of the near-criticality. The resultant gradient of the local mass-density difference between the two components generates additional stress, including the osmotic pressure, to influence the membrane motion. Assuming the mixture to be in the homogeneous phase near, but not too close to, the demixing critical point, we use the Gaussian free-energy functional to calculate the relaxation rate for a wavelength much longer than the correlation length of the mixture. Our calculation supposes weak preferential attraction and weak dependence of the mixture viscosity on the mass-density difference, and is performed within the linear approximation with respect to the undulation amplitude. It is shown for small wave number that the additional stress makes the relaxation more rapid independently of whether the preferred component is more viscous or not and that the relaxation rate can be regarded as proportional to the wave number even for a tensionless membrane. This linear dependence comes from the balance between the frictional force due to the mixture viscosity and the restoring force of the adsorption layer.