English

Mass Generation from Embedding Geometry in Surface Nematics

Soft Condensed Matter 2026-05-20 v1

Abstract

We show that a nematic field constrained to a curved embedded surface develops an emergent geometric mass in its leading isotropic interaction sector. An auxiliary embedding-space closure mediated by the surface spin connection yields a massive scalar mode χn\chi_n with mass set by the extrinsic curvature invariant m2=KabKabm^2=K_{ab}K^{ab}. This mass arises directly from embedding geometry, promoting the intrinsic massless nematic interaction into a geometry-controlled massive field. The resulting theory identifies Gaussian curvature as a distributed geometric charge and establishes embedding geometry as the regulator of defect interactions on curved nematic membranes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.19183,
  title  = {Mass Generation from Embedding Geometry in Surface Nematics},
  author = {J. A. Santiago and F. Monroy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.19183},
  year   = {2026}
}