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Melting in 2D is described by the celebrated Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory. The unbinding of two different types of topological defects destroys translational and orientational order at different temperatures. The…
The theory of nematic-smectic phase transition in the system of uniform semi-flexible chains with hard-core repulsion is presented. Both the general density-functional formalism the tube-model calculation show that the flexibility of the…
In this Letter we show how the nonlinear evolution of a resonant triad depends on the special combination of the modes' phases chosen according to the resonance conditions. This phase combination is called dynamical phase. Its evolution is…
We analyse the flow curves of a two-dimensional assembly of granular particles which are interacting via frictional contact forces. For packing fractions slightly below jamming, the fluid undergoes a large scale instability, implying a…
We consider a two-dimensional system of elongated particles driven over a random quenched disorder landscape. For varied pinning site density, external drive magnitude, and particle elongation, we find a wide variety of dynamic phases,…
Specialized Monte Carlo simulation techniques and moment free energy method calculations, capable of treating fractionation exactly, are deployed to study the crystalline phase behaviour of an assembly of spherical particles described by a…
Colloidal particles that are confined to an interface such as the air-water interface are an example of a two-dimensional fluid. Such dispersions have been observed to spontaneously form cluster and stripe morphologies in certain systems…
Instabilities and pattern formation is the rule in nonequilibrium systems. Selection of a persistent lengthscale, or coarsening (increase of the lengthscale with time) are the two major alternatives. When and under which conditions one…
We study the impact of nematic alignment on scalar active matter in the disordered phase. We show that nematic torques control the emergent physics of particles interacting via pairwise forces and can either induce or prevent phase…
Instabilities in thin elastic sheets, such as wrinkles, are of broad interest both from a fundamental viewpoint and also because of their potential for engineering applications. Nematic liquid crystal elastomers offer a new form of control…
The possible symmetries of the biaxial nematic phase are examined against the implications of the presently available experimental results. Contrary to the widespread notion that biaxial nematics have orthorhombic symmetry, our study shows…
Nematicity is a well known property of liquid crystals and has been recently discussed in the context of strongly interacting electrons. An electronic nematic phase has been seen by many experiments in certain strongly correlated materials,…
We use a continuum, two-fluid approach to study a mixture of two active nematic fluids. Even in the absence of thermodynamically-driven ordering, for mixtures of different activities we observe turbulent microphase separation, where domains…
Investigations of the phase diagram of biaxial liquid crystal systems through analyses of general Hamiltonian models within the simplifications of mean-field theory (MFT), as well as by computer simulations based on microscopic models, are…
A key challenge in multiphase flow through porous media is to understand and predict the conditions under which trapped fluid clusters become mobilized. Here, we investigate the stability of such clusters in two-phase flow and present a…
We consider a simple Maier-Saupe statistical model with the inclusion of disorder degrees of freedom to mimic the phase diagram of a mixture of rod-like and disc-like molecules. A quenched distribution of shapes leads to the existence of a…
We study a two-dimensional fluid of particles interacting through a spherically-symmetric and marginally soft two-body repulsion. This model can exist in three different crystal phases, one of them with square symmetry and the other two…
The interplay between different orders is of fundamental importance in physics. The spontaneous, symmetry-breaking charge order, responsible for the stripe or the nematic phase, has been of great interest in many contexts where strong…
Using density-functional theory, we have analyzed the phase behavior of binary mixtures of hard rods of different lengths and diameters. Previous studies have shown a strong tendency of smectic phases of these mixtures to segregate and, in…
Instabilities of fluid-fluid interfaces are ubiquitous in passive soft matter. Adding activity to the interface or either fluid can dramatically change the stability of the interface. Using experiment and theory, we investigate the…