Amplification of thermal noise by vesicle dynamics

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Dec 28;109(26):268103. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.268103. Epub 2012 Dec 27.

Abstract

A novel noise amplification mechanism resulting from the interaction of thermal fluctuations and nonlinear vesicle dynamics is reported. It is observed in a time-dependent vesicle state called trembling (TR). High spatial resolution and very long time series of TR compared to the vesicle period allow us to quantitatively analyze the generation and amplification of spatial and temporal modes of the vesicle shape perturbations. During a compression part of each TR cycle, a vesicle finds itself on the edge of the wrinkling instability, where thermally excited spatial modes are amplified.