Comment on: "Dynamics of Phospholipid Membranes beyond Thermal Undulations"

TL;DR

This paper offers an alternative explanation for short-time anomalous diffusion in phospholipid membranes, linking it to membrane thickness fluctuations and the Brochard-Lennon mode, aligning with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a new interpretation of membrane dynamics involving the Brochard-Lennon mode, providing a theoretical framework consistent with neutron spin echo observations.

Findings

Anomalous diffusion exponent of 1/3 matches experimental results.

Membrane thickness fluctuations can explain short-time anomalous diffusion.

Alternative interpretation challenges previous models.

Abstract

I introduce an alternative interpretation for the short-time anomalous diffusion observed by Gupta et al. using neutron spin echo. The interpretation involves the Brochard-Lennon "red blood cell" mode to describe membrane thickness fluctuations, and yields an anomalous diffusion exponent 1/3 that is consistent with the experimental results.