ABSTRACT
Bilayer membranes formed from phospholipid molecules are an essential component of cellular membranes. While the properties of equilibrium membranes are well understood using the Helfrich Hamiltonian constructed from the two elastic moduli, the surface tension and the curvature modulus (for a review, see, for instance, Seifert, 1997), the nonequilibrium behavior of real biological membranes of living cells has not reached an equal level of understanding. In this chapter, we are interested in active membranes, which share one of the important characteristics of membranes of living cells: the sustained uptake and dissipation of energy.
