Shape deformation and phase separation dynamics of two-component vesicles

We numerically study dynamics of shape deformations of vesicles resulting from intramembrane phase separation. At off-critical compositions resultant vesicle shapes closely resemble the echinocytosis of red blood cells, while at the critical composition a bicontinuous domain structure emerges. The coarsening process of domain structures on such a deformable surface is considerably slower than that on a rigid surface. The total length of domain boundaries N-DB decreases as t(-1/3) for the rigid sphere, whereas in the present system N-DB similar or equal to t(-z) (z similar or equal to 0.1) at the late stage due to the coupling between the shape and the phase separation.