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arXiv · 1703.06276

Droplet Ripening in Concentration Gradients

Christoph A. Weber·Chiu Fan Lee·Frank Jülicher
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Abstract

Living cells use phase separation and concentration gradients to organize chemical compartments in space. Here, we present a theoretical study of droplet dynamics in gradient systems. We derive the corresponding growth law of droplets and find that droplets exhibit a drift velocity and position dependent growth. As a consequence, the dissolution boundary moves through the system, thereby segregating droplets to one end. We show that for steep enough gradients, the ripening leads to a transient arrest of droplet growth that is induced by an narrowing of the droplet size distribution.

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Christoph A. Weber, Chiu Fan Lee, Frank Jülicher. 2017-03-18. Droplet Ripening in Concentration Gradients. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630%2Faa6b84

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