Surface densities prewet a near-critical membrane

Recent work has highlighted roles for thermodynamic phase behavior in diverse cellular processes. Proteins and nucleic acids can phase separate into three-dimensional liquid droplets in the cytoplasm and nucleus and the plasma membrane of animal cells appears tuned close to a two-dimensional liquid–liquid critical point. In some examples, cytoplasmic proteins aggregate at plasma membrane domains, forming structures such as the postsynaptic density and diverse signaling clusters. Here we examine the physics of these surface densities, employing minimal simulations of polymers prone to phase separation coupled to an Ising membrane surface in conjunction with a complementary Landau theory. We argue that these surface densities are a phase reminiscent of prewetting, in which a molecularly thin three-dimensional liquid forms on a usually solid surface. However, in surface densities the solid surface is replaced by a membrane with an independent propensity to phase separate. We show that proximity to criticality in the membrane dramatically increases the parameter regime in which a prewetting-like transition occurs, leading to a broad region where coexisting surface phases can form even when a bulk phase is unstable. Our simulations naturally exhibit three-surface phase coexistence even though both the membrane and the polymer bulk only display two-phase coexistence on their own. We argue that the physics of these surface densities may be shared with diverse functional structures seen in eukaryotic cells.

Effect of Particle Size on Magnetic Phase Coexistence in Nanocrystalline La0.4Bi0.3Sr0.3MnO3

Magnetic phase coexistence in the substituted perovskite compound, La0.4Bi0.3Sr0.3MnO3, is attributed to the spontaneous moment and a step-like metamagnetic transition observed in the magnetization measurements in its magnetically order state. The magnetism of samples reduced to nanometer sizes by the “top down” approach exhibits interesting changes with respect to the bulk, thus giving a handle in influencing the physical properties by reducing the particle size. The bulk sample orders ferromagnetically at TC = 295 K, whereas in nano-sized samples with particle sizes in the range of 21–30 nm, even though TC does not change, the transitions are suppressed. The nano-sized powder samples show a broad hump in the plot of magnetic susceptibility, signifying the possible disordered antiferromagnetic state. A systematic decrease in the magnitude of magnetization in nano-sized samples shows that the reduction in magnetic interaction could be attributed to the formation of a magnetic dead layer around the magnetic core.