Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale
The electromagnetic Casimir interaction between dielectric objects immersed in salted water includes a universal contribution that is not screened by the solvent and therefore long-ranged. Here, we study the geometry of two parallel dielectric cylinders. We derive the Casimir free energy by using th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad1846 |
| _version_ | 1797361809217290240 |
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| author | Benjamin Spreng Hélène Berthoumieux Astrid Lambrecht Anne-Florence Bitbol Paulo Maia Neto Serge Reynaud |
| author_facet | Benjamin Spreng Hélène Berthoumieux Astrid Lambrecht Anne-Florence Bitbol Paulo Maia Neto Serge Reynaud |
| author_sort | Benjamin Spreng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The electromagnetic Casimir interaction between dielectric objects immersed in salted water includes a universal contribution that is not screened by the solvent and therefore long-ranged. Here, we study the geometry of two parallel dielectric cylinders. We derive the Casimir free energy by using the scattering method. We show that its magnitude largely exceeds the thermal energy scale for a large parameter range. This includes length scales relevant for actin filaments and microtubules in cells. We show that the Casimir free energy is a universal function of the geometry, independent of the dielectric response functions of the cylinders, at all distances of biological interest. While multiple interactions exist between filaments in cells, this universal attractive interaction should have an important role in the cohesion of bundles of parallel filaments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:59:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-968c95e969834474bc15b7a4a30acaad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:59:43Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-968c95e969834474bc15b7a4a30acaad2024-01-08T11:09:12ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302024-01-0126101300910.1088/1367-2630/ad1846Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scaleBenjamin Spreng0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0819-1804Hélène Berthoumieux1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3174-0189Astrid Lambrecht2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5193-1222Anne-Florence Bitbol3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1020-494XPaulo Maia Neto4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5287-172XSerge Reynaud5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1494-696XDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States of AmericaGulliver, CNRS, École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles de Paris, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University , Paris 75005, France; Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin , Arnimallee 14, Berlin 14195, GermanyForschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich, Germany; RWTH Aachen University , 52062 Aachen, GermanyInstitute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics , CH-1015 Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-972, BrazilLaboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-PSL, Collège de France, Campus Jussieu , F-75005 Paris, FranceThe electromagnetic Casimir interaction between dielectric objects immersed in salted water includes a universal contribution that is not screened by the solvent and therefore long-ranged. Here, we study the geometry of two parallel dielectric cylinders. We derive the Casimir free energy by using the scattering method. We show that its magnitude largely exceeds the thermal energy scale for a large parameter range. This includes length scales relevant for actin filaments and microtubules in cells. We show that the Casimir free energy is a universal function of the geometry, independent of the dielectric response functions of the cylinders, at all distances of biological interest. While multiple interactions exist between filaments in cells, this universal attractive interaction should have an important role in the cohesion of bundles of parallel filaments.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad1846fluctuation mediated interactionsCasimir effectbiological complexityself-organizationbiomolecular processesbiomolecular self-assembly |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin Spreng Hélène Berthoumieux Astrid Lambrecht Anne-Florence Bitbol Paulo Maia Neto Serge Reynaud Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale New Journal of Physics fluctuation mediated interactions Casimir effect biological complexity self-organization biomolecular processes biomolecular self-assembly |
| title | Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| title_full | Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| title_fullStr | Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| title_short | Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| title_sort | universal casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale |
| topic | fluctuation mediated interactions Casimir effect biological complexity self-organization biomolecular processes biomolecular self-assembly |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad1846 |
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