The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality

We study small energy solutions within the Landau-de Gennes theory for nematic liquid crystals, subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider two-dimensional and threedimensional domains separately and study the correspondence between Landau-de Gennes theory and Ginzburg-Landau theory for su...

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Main Author: Majumdar, A
Format: Journal article
Published: 2010
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author Majumdar, A
author_facet Majumdar, A
author_sort Majumdar, A
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description We study small energy solutions within the Landau-de Gennes theory for nematic liquid crystals, subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider two-dimensional and threedimensional domains separately and study the correspondence between Landau-de Gennes theory and Ginzburg-Landau theory for superconductors. We treat uniaxial and biaxial cases separately. In the uniaxial case, topological defects correspond to the zero set and we obtain results for the location and dimensionality of the defect set, the solution profile near and away from the defect set. In the three-dimensional case, we establish the C^1,a-convergence of uniaxial small energy solutions to a limiting harmonic map, away from the defect set, for some 0 < a < 1, in the vanishing core limit. Generalizations for biaxial small energy solutions are also discussed, which include physically relevant estimates for the solution and its scalar order parameters. This work is motivated by the study of defects in liquid crystalline systems and their applications.
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spelling oxford-uuid:0fbbdf1b-b279-4fa0-b2a4-469252c7e77b2022-03-26T09:52:45ZThe Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus BiaxialityJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0fbbdf1b-b279-4fa0-b2a4-469252c7e77bMathematical Institute - ePrints2010Majumdar, AWe study small energy solutions within the Landau-de Gennes theory for nematic liquid crystals, subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider two-dimensional and threedimensional domains separately and study the correspondence between Landau-de Gennes theory and Ginzburg-Landau theory for superconductors. We treat uniaxial and biaxial cases separately. In the uniaxial case, topological defects correspond to the zero set and we obtain results for the location and dimensionality of the defect set, the solution profile near and away from the defect set. In the three-dimensional case, we establish the C^1,a-convergence of uniaxial small energy solutions to a limiting harmonic map, away from the defect set, for some 0 < a < 1, in the vanishing core limit. Generalizations for biaxial small energy solutions are also discussed, which include physically relevant estimates for the solution and its scalar order parameters. This work is motivated by the study of defects in liquid crystalline systems and their applications.
spellingShingle Majumdar, A
The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title_full The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title_fullStr The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title_full_unstemmed The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title_short The Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals: Uniaxiality versus Biaxiality
title_sort landau de gennes theory of nematic liquid crystals uniaxiality versus biaxiality
work_keys_str_mv AT majumdara thelandaudegennestheoryofnematicliquidcrystalsuniaxialityversusbiaxiality
AT majumdara landaudegennestheoryofnematicliquidcrystalsuniaxialityversusbiaxiality