Coupling between phase separation and geometry on a closed elastic curve: Free energy minimization and dynamics

Abstract

We study the free energy and dynamics of a closed elastic filament (a one-dimensional curve in two dimensions) coupled to a scalar concentration field representing, for example, an adsorbed species. The density variable has a tendency to phase-separate whereas the local spontaneous curvature is concentration-dependent. We address analytically and by simulation both the free energy landscape and the dynamics (the latter comprising a coupled Willmore flow and Cahn–Hilliard gradient flow on the full differential geometry of a closed filament), addressing issues that previous work typically sidestepped by restricting to the Monge gauge. Specifically, we find that the closure constraint for a deformable filament qualitatively changes the free energy landscape compared with either a rigid closed filament or an open elastic one, admitting metastable and stable states with more than one domain of each type. By numerical global free energy minimization, we explore equilibrium morphologies across a wide range of model parameters. For selected parameter values, we present fully dynamical results, tracking the time evolution of the various contributions to the free energy and confirming the emergence of both metastable and equilibrium multi-domain morphologies.