Dynamics of point defects in nematic liquid crystals

✍ Scribed by G. Guidone Peroli; E.G. Virga

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 770 KB
• Volume: 111
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-2789
• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-2789(97)80021-8

✦ Synopsis

The topological theory of defects assigns a charge to every point defect exhibited by nematic liquid crystals. Complex phenomena have been observed in capillary tubes involving the appearance and the disappearance of periodic arrays of defects with alternating sign of the charge. Here we move a step towards understanding these phenomena by considering a simple system, which would serve as an instructive example. We develop a mathematical model fit to describe the evolution in time of three defects. We write the differential equations that rule this peculiar dynamical system: they show, in particular, how a defect is dragged in the wake of another with a velocity which depends on the distance between them.