Phase transition of triangulated spherical surfaces with elastic skeletons

Abstract

A first-order transition is numerically found in a spherical surface model with skeletons, which are linked to each other at junctions. The shape of the triangulated surfaces is maintained by skeletons, which have a one-dimensional bending elasticity characterized by the bending rigidity $b$, and the surfaces have no two-dimensional bending elasticity except at the junctions. The surfaces swell and become spherical at large $b$ and collapse and crumple at small $b$. These two phases are separated from each other by the first-order transition. Although both of the surfaces and the skeleton are allowed to self-intersect and, hence, phantom, our results indicate a possible phase transition in biological or artificial membranes whose shape is maintained by cytoskeletons.