  The Single Chain Mean Field theory is used to simulate the equilibrium
structure of phospholipid membranes at the molecular level. Three levels of
coarse-graining of DMPC phospholipid surfactants are present: the detailed
44-beads double tails model, the 10-beads double tails model and the minimal
3-beads model. We show that all three models are able to reproduce the
essential equilibrium properties of the phospholipid bilayer, while the
simplest 3-beads model is the fastest model which can describe adequately the
thickness of the layer, the area per lipid and the rigidity of the membrane.
The accuracy of the method in description of equilibrium structures of
membranes compete with Monte Carlo simulations while the speed of computation
and the mean field nature of the approach allows for straightforward
applications to systems with great complexity.
