Fig. 5.

Shape and defect configuration for a simulated vesicle with low translational viscosity and high rotational viscosity. The color images (Left) represent distance from the center of mass of the vesicle, and the grayscale images (Right) represent the tilt direction, showing the optical intensity that would be observed with polarized fluorescence microscopy. This vesicle has five +1 defects and three −1 defects. Note the similarity with the experimental images of Fig. 2, in particular at the points indicated by the arrows.