Lipid membranes

We present a linear theory of lipid membranes which accommodates the effects of intra-membrane viscosity into the model of deformations. Within the Monge parameterization, a linearized version of the shape equation describing membrane morphology is derived. Admissible boundary conditions are taken from the existing non-linear model but reformulated and adopted to the present framework. We obtain a complete analytical expression illustrating the deformations of lipid membrane subjected to the influences of intra-membrane viscosity.