Related papers: Topology of Smectic Order on Compact Substrates
Lattice-like structures can provide a combination of high stiffness with light weight that is useful in many applications, but a resolved finite element mesh of such structures results in a computationally expensive discretization. This…
We discuss the higher-order topological field theory and response of topological crystalline insulators with no other symmetries. We show how the topology and geometry of the system is organised in terms of the elasticity tetrads which are…
The mathematical field of topology has become a framework to describe the low-energy electronic structure of crystalline solids. A typical feature of a bulk insulating three-dimensional topological crystal are conducting two-dimensional…
We study the topology associated with physical vector and scalar fields. A mathematical object, e.g., a ball, can be continuously deformed, without tearing or gluing, to make other topologically equivalent objects, e.g., a cube or a solid…
Ordered phases of matter, such as solids, ferromagnets, superfluids, or quantum topological order, typically only exist at low temperatures. Despite this conventional wisdom, we present explicit local models in which all such phases persist…
The topological invariant of a topological insulator (or superconductor) is given by the number of symmetry-protected edge states present at the Fermi level. Despite this fact, established expressions for the topological invariant require…
We theoretically explore atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin-orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an…
Liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) are stimuli-responsive materials formed from polymeric chains cross-linked with rod-like mesogenic segments, which, in the nematic phase, align along a non-polar director. A key characteristic of these…
We report on the first direct nanoscale imaging of elementary edge dislocations in a thermotropic chiral smectic C liquid crystal with the Burgers vector equal to one smectic layer spacing d. We find two different types of dislocation…
We examine the statics and dynamics of vortices in the presence of a periodic quasi-one dimensional substrate, focusing on the limit where the vortex lattice constant is smaller than the substrate lattice period. As a function of the…
The string-net approach by Levin and Wen and the local unitary transformation approach by Chen, Gu and Wen provided ways to systematically label non-chiral topological orders in 2D. In those approaches, different topologically ordered…
We investigate the spin and charge densities of surface states of the three-dimensional topological insulator $Bi_2Se_3$, starting from the continuum description of the material [Zhang {\em et al.}, Nat. Phys. 5, 438 (2009)]. The spin…
Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…
Observing and characterizing the complex ordering phenomena of liquid crystals subjected to external constraints constitutes an ongoing challenge for chemists and physicists alike. To elucidate the delicate balance appearing when the…
The topological structure resulting from the network of contacts between grains (contact network) is studied for very large samples of disorderly-packed monosized spheres with densities ranging from 0.58 to 0.64. The hierarchical…
The theory describing quantum-smectics in 2+1 dimensions, based on topological quantum melting is presented. This is governed by a dislocation condensate characterized by an ordering of Burger's vector and this `dual shear superconductor'…
We have recently presented evidence that in configurations dominating the regularized pure-glue QCD path integral, the topological charge density constructed from overlap Dirac operator organizes into an ordered space-time structure. It was…
In thin films of smectic-C liquid crystals, localized regions containing additional smectic layers form circular inclusions that carry a topological charge. Such inclusions nucleate a companion topological defect. These inclusion-defect…
The surface of a topological insulator is a closed two dimensional manifold. The surface states are described by the Dirac Hamiltonian in curved two dimensional spaces. For a slab-like sample with a magnetic field perpendicular to its top…
Topologically ordered states are among the most interesting quantum phases of matter that host emergent quasi-particles having fractional charge and obeying fractional quantum statistics. Theoretical study of such states is however…