Related papers: Sphere-valued harmonic maps with surface energy an…
We study the relationship between Onsager's molecular theory and the Oseen-Frank theory for nematic liquid crystals. Under the molecular setting, we consider the free energy that includes the effects of nonlocal molecular interactions. By…
We consider $\mathbb{S}^2$-valued maps on a domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$ minimizing a perturbation of the Dirichlet energy with vertical penalization in $\Omega$ and horizontal penalization on $\partial\Omega$. We first show the…
The paper concerns the analysis of global minimizers of a Dirichlet-type energy functional defined on the space of vector fields $H^1(S,T)$, where $S$ and $T$ are surfaces of revolution. The energy functional we consider is closely related…
The variational problem for the functional $F=\frac12\|\phi^*\omega\|_{L^2}^2$ is considered, where $\phi:(M,g)\to (N,\omega)$ maps a Riemannian manifold to a symplectic manifold. This functional arises in theoretical physics as the strong…
We consider the free boundary problem arising from an energy functional which is the sum of a Dirichlet energy and a nonlinear function of either the classical or the fractional perimeter. The main difference with the existing literature is…
We study global minimizers of a continuum Landau-De Gennes energy functional for nematic liquid crystals, in three-dimensional domains, subject to uniaxial boundary conditions. We analyze the physically relevant limit of small elastic…
Two equations are constructed which reflect, for fermions moving independently in a spherical harmonic potential, a differential virial theorem and a relation between the turning points of kinetic energy and particle densities. These…
We consider a non-local free energy functional, modelling a competition between entropy and pairwise interactions reminiscent of the second order virial expansion, with applications to nematic liquid crystals as a particular case. We build…
In this work we recover the Oseen-Frank theory of nematic liquid crystals as a $\Gamma$-limit of a particular mean-field free energy as the sample size becomes infinitely large. The Frank constants are not necessarily all equal. Our…
Let $B^n\subset {\mathbb R}^{n}$ and ${\mathbb S}^n\subset {\mathbb R}^{n+1}$ denote the Euclidean $n$-dimensional unit ball and sphere respectively. The \textit{extrinsic $k$-energy functional} is defined on the Sobolev space $W^{k,2}\left…
Unit-vector fields $\nvec$ on a convex polyhedron $P$ subject to tangent boundary conditions provide a simple model of nematic liquid crystals in prototype bistable displays. The equilibrium and metastable configurations correspond to…
Given a compact polarized K\"ahler manifold $X\hookrightarrow\mathbb{CP}^N$, the space of Bergman metrics on $X$, parameterized by $\mathrm{SL}(N+1,\mathbb{C})$, corresponds to a dense set in the space of K\"ahler potentials in the K\"ahler…
The paper concerns the analysis of global minimizers of a Dirichlet-type energy functional in the class of $\mathbb{S}^2$-valued maps defined in cylindrical surfaces. The model naturally arises as a curved thin-film limit in the theories of…
We analyze the topological structure of the Nehari set for a class of functionals depending on a real parameter $\lambda$, and having two degrees of homogeneity. A special attention is paid to the extremal parameter $\lambda^*$, which is…
Given a $C^k$-smooth closed embedded manifold $\mathcal N\subset{\mathbb R}^m$, with $k\ge 2$, and a compact connected smooth Riemannian surface $(S,g)$ with $\partial S\neq\emptyset$, we consider $\frac 12$-harmonic maps $u\in…
We study the problem of constructing $k$-spectral minimal partitions of domains in $d$ dimensions, where the energy functional to be minimized is a $p$-norm ($1 \le p \le \infty$) of the infimum of the spectrum of a suitable Schr\"odinger…
In this paper we study a constrained minimization problem for the Willmore functional. For prescribed surface area we consider smooth embeddings of the sphere into the unit ball. We evaluate the dependence of the the minimal Willmore energy…
We prove existence and regularity of minimisers for the Canham-Helfrich energy in the class of weak (possibly branched and bubbled) immersions of the $2$-sphere. This solves (the spherical case) of the minimisation problem proposed by…
Minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ can be locally approximated by graphs of harmonic functions, i.e., functions that are critical points of the Dirichlet energy, but no analogous theorem is known for $H$-minimal surfaces in the…
We study tensor-valued minimizers of the Landau-de Gennes energy functional on a simply-connected planar domain $\Omega$ with non-contractible boundary data. Here the tensorial field represents the second moment of a local orientational…