Finite Temperature Phase Behavior of Viral Capsids as Oriented Particle Shells

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phase diagram for viral capsids modeled as oriented particle shells, capturing thermal effects and transitions like melting, buckling, and collapse, to better understand their thermodynamics.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive phase plot for particle shells that incorporates thermal fluctuations and identifies key structural transitions.

Findings

Identifies a first-order melting transition in viral capsid models.

Detects buckling and collapse transitions influenced by temperature.

Provides a framework for interpreting microbiological shell thermodynamics.

Abstract

A general phase-plot is proposed for discrete particle shells that allows for thermal fluctuations of the shell geometry and of the inter-particle connectivities. The phase plot contains a first-order melting transition, a buckling transition and a collapse transition and is used to interpret the thermodynamics of microbiological shells.