Dynamics of Vesicles in shear and rotational flows: Modal Dynamics and Phase Diagram

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical models of vesicle shape dynamics in shear and rotational flows, highlighting their limitations in matching experimental observations, especially for vesicles with higher excess areas, and emphasizes new experimental insights.

Contribution

It critically compares recent models with experimental data, revealing their shortcomings and emphasizing the importance of shape harmonics and thermal fluctuations.

Findings

Models fail for excess area > 0.4

Thermal fluctuations are significant

Shape harmonics influence vesicle dynamics

Abstract

Despite the recent upsurge of theoretical reduced models for vesicle shape dynamics, comparisons with experiments have not been accomplished. We review the implications of some of the recently proposed models for vesicle dynamics, especially the Tumbling-Trembling domain regions of the phase plane and show that they all fail to capture the essential behavior of real vesicles for excess areas, \Delta, greater than 0.4. We emphasize new observations of shape harmonics and the role of thermal fluctuations.