The role of Gauss curvature in a membrane phase separation problem

Consider a two-phase lipid vesicle. Below the transition temperature, the phases separate into non-connecting domains that coarsen into larger areas. The free energy of phase properties determines the length of the boundaries separating the regions. The two phases correspond to different lipid compositions, and in cells, this fluctuation in composition is a dynamic process vital to its function. We prove that a small patch of the minority lipids forms at a point of the membrane where the Gauss curvature attains a maximum. This patch has a round shape approximately and its boundary has a constant geodesic curvature. The proof consists of three steps. The construction of a family of good approximate solutions, an improvement of the approximate solutions so that their geodesic curvature is a constant modulo translation, and the identification of an exact solution from the family of the improved approximate solutions. Our theoretical results are supported by vesicle experiments.