Curvature-driven pattern formation in biomembranes: A gradient flow approach

TL;DR

This paper develops a gradient flow model for curvature-driven pattern formation in biomembranes, proving existence and uniqueness of solutions, and demonstrating how physical parameters influence membrane patterns through numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel phase-field model derived from a gradient flow approach, with rigorous analysis and finite element discretization for biomembrane pattern formation.

Findings

Existence and uniqueness of weak solutions for the model.

Numerical simulations show different pattern types like stripes, dots, and snakes.

The model captures the influence of physical parameters on membrane patterns.

Abstract

In this work, we study a phase-field model for curvature-driven pattern formation in biomembranes. The model is derived as a gradient flow of an energy functional that approximates the two-phase Canham--Helfrich energy. This leads to a Cahn--Hilliard-type equation with cross diffusion for the relative chemical concentration of one lipid phase, coupled to a fourth-order reaction-diffusion equation describing the height profile of the membrane. We first prove the existence of weak solutions for the case of regular double-well potentials, using a minimizing movement scheme to construct approximate solutions. The analysis is then extended to singular potentials, e.g., the Flory--Huggins potential, by approximating them with a Moreau--Yosida regularization. For both cases, we establish higher regularity, continuous dependence on the initial data, and consequently the uniqueness of weak solutions. Finally, we propose a well-posed finite element discretization of the model and present numerical experiments illustrating the effect of different physical parameters on the resulting membrane patterns. Depending on the parameter regime, we observe purely striped, dotted, or snake-like structures.