# Phase structure of a surface model on dynamically triangulated spheres with elastic skeletons

## TL;DR

This study explores the phase behavior of a triangulated surface model with elastic skeletons, revealing three distinct phases separated by discontinuous transitions, using Monte Carlo simulations without explicit bending energy.

## Contribution

It introduces a surface model with elastic skeletons that form compartmentalized structures, showing phase transitions driven by inhomogeneity and fluidity without traditional bending energy.

## Key findings

- Identified three phases: tubular, planar, spherical.
- Discontinuous phase transitions observed between these phases.
- Surface strength varies between compartments due to inhomogeneity.

## Abstract

We find three distinct phases; a tubular phase, a planar phase, and the spherical phase, in a triangulated fluid surface model. It is also found that these phases are separated by discontinuous transitions. The fluid surface model is investigated within the framework of the conventional curvature model by using the canonical Monte Carlo simulations with dynamical triangulations. The mechanical strength of the surface is given only by skeletons, and no two-dimensional bending energy is assumed in the Hamiltonian. The skeletons are composed of elastic linear-chains and rigid junctions and form a compartmentalized structure on the surface, and for this reason the vertices of triangles can diffuse freely only inside the compartments. As a consequence, an inhomogeneous structure is introduced in the model; the surface strength inside the compartments is different from the surface strength on the compartments. However, the rotational symmetry is not influenced by the elastic skeletons; there is no specific direction on the surface. In addition to the three phases mentioned above, a collapsed phase is expected to exist in the low bending rigidity regime that was not studied here. The inhomogeneous structure and the fluidity of vertices are considered to be the origin of such variety of phases.