Unbinding transitions of multicomponent membranes and strings

Abstract

We present a theory of unbinding transitions for membranes that interact via short and long receptor/ligand bonds. The detail of unbinding behavior of the membranes is governed by the binding energies and concentrations of receptors and ligands. We investigate the unbinding behavior of these membranes with Monte Carlo simulations and via a comparison with strings. We derive the scaling laws for strings analytically. The exact analytic results provide scaling estimate for membranes in the vicinity of the critical point.