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Mesoscopic models of lipid bilayers and bilayers with embedded ...

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10 Simulation method for coarse-grained <strong>lipid</strong>s<br />

dissipative <strong>and</strong> the r<strong>and</strong>om force satisfy the relations:<br />

w D (r) = [w R (r)] 2<br />

σ 2 = 2ηkBT.<br />

(2.4)<br />

This is because the time evolution <strong>of</strong> the distribution function <strong>of</strong> the system f(r, p, t),<br />

which specifies the probability <strong>of</strong> finding the system at time t in a state where the<br />

particles have positions r={ri} <strong>and</strong> momenta p={pi}, is governed by the Fokker-Planck<br />

equation<br />

∂f<br />

∂t = LC f + L D f, (2.5)<br />

where L C <strong>and</strong> L D are the evolution operators. L C is the Liouville operator <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Hamiltonian system interacting <strong>with</strong> conservative forces, <strong>and</strong> L D contains the dissipative<br />

<strong>and</strong> the noise terms. If only L C is present, the system is Hamiltonian <strong>with</strong><br />

equilibrium distribution, feq, the Gibbs distribution. In order to have the Gibbs distribution<br />

also when the r<strong>and</strong>om <strong>and</strong> the dissipative forces are present, the corresponding<br />

evolution operator should satisfy L D feq = 0. The relations 2.4 specify this<br />

condition. The existence <strong>of</strong> a Hamiltonian implies that only the conservative part <strong>of</strong><br />

the force (or better, the potential UC related to it: F C = −∇UC), determines the equilibrium<br />

averages <strong>of</strong> the system observables. Furthermore, as shown by Willemsen et<br />

al. in [49], it implies that DPD can be combined <strong>with</strong> Monte-Carlo (MC) methods.<br />

We will use this property in section 3.3 <strong>of</strong> Chapter 3, where we describe an hybrid<br />

DPD-MC scheme to ensure that the simulations are performed at constant surface<br />

tension.<br />

All the forces assume the same functional dependence on the interparticle distance<br />

rij, as the conservative force F C ij does, if the weight function wR (r) has the following<br />

functional form<br />

w R (r) =<br />

(1 − r/Rc) (r < Rc)<br />

0 (r ≥ Rc)<br />

(2.6)<br />

<strong>and</strong> w D (r) follows from equation 2.4.<br />

The Newton’s equations <strong>of</strong> motion are integrated using a modified version <strong>of</strong> the<br />

velocity-Verlet algorithm [28]:<br />

ri(t + ∆t) = ri(t) + ∆tvi(t) + 1<br />

2 (∆t)2 fi(t)<br />

˜vi(t + ∆t) = vi(t) + λ∆tfi(t) (2.7)<br />

fi(t + ∆t) = fi[r(t + ∆t), ˜v(t + ∆t)]<br />

vi(t + ∆t) = vi(t) + 1<br />

2 ∆t [fi(t) + fi(t + ∆t)].<br />

This integration algorithm becomes the original velocity-Verlet algorithm when the

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