Buckling of elastic filaments by discrete magnetic moments

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how magnetic moments along a semiflexible filament can induce buckling, providing analytical criteria for buckling thresholds and exploring biological implications for magnetosome chains.

Contribution

It offers the first analytical expressions for the critical stiffness causing buckling in magnetic filament models, considering various attachment scenarios.

Findings

Buckling occurs at specific critical stiffness values.

Magnetic moments can induce buckling within biological parameter ranges.

Bending stiffness may stabilize filaments against magnetic buckling.

Abstract

We study the buckling of an idealized, semiflexible filament along whose contour magnetic moments are placed. {We give analytic expressions for the critical stiffness of the filament below which it buckles due to the magnetic compression. For this, we consider various scenarios of the attachment of the magnetic particles to the filament. One possible application for this model are the magnetosome chains of magnetotactic bacteria. An estimate of the critical bending stiffness indicates that buckling may occur within the range of biologically relevant parameters and suggests a role for the bending stiffness of the filament to stabilize the filament against buckling, which would compromise the functional relevance of the bending stiffness of the used filament.