UNBINDING OF SYMMETRICAL AND ASYMMETRIC STACKS OF MEMBRANES

The unbinding of N membranes interacting with attractive potentials is considered theoretically for zero pressure. In the symmetric case, for which the membranes have the same bending rigidity, all N membranes unbind simultaneously at the N-independent temperature T(c)s but with N-dependent effective critical exponents. In the asymmetric case, for which the lowest membrane acts as a rigid wall, they exhibit a sequence of unbinding transitions with universal exponents; the transition temperature of the uppermost membrane for a semi-infinite stack (N = infinity) is again given by T(c)s.