Anomalous diffusion in lipid bilayers is usually attributed to viscoelastic behavior. We compute the scaling exponent of relative fluctuations of the time-averaged mean square displacement in a lipid bilayer, by using a molecular dynamics simulation. According to the continuous time random walk theory, this exponent indicates non-Gaussian behavior caused by a power-law trapping time. Our results provide the first evidence that a lipid bilayer has not only viscoelastic properties but also trapping times distributed according to a power law.

• Received 1 March 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.178103