Related papers: Topological vacancies in spherical crystal cluster…
A topological defect separating a pair of two-dimensional CFTs is a codimension one interface along which all components of the stress-energy tensor glue continuously. We study topological defects of the bosonic, (0,1)- and…
In this paper we focus on the interplay between geometry defects and topological properties in bosonic symmetry protected topological(SPT) phases. We start from eight copies of 3D time-reversal($\mathcal{T}$) invariant topological…
Mixing theoretical topological structures with cutting-edge simulation methods, a recent study in Nature Communications has finally confirmed the existence of topological defects in glasses and their crucial role for plasticity.
We present a mesoscale description of deformations and defects in thin, flexible sheets with crystalline order, tackling the interplay between in-plane elasticity, out-of-plane deformation, as well as dislocation nucleation and motion. Our…
Topological defects in crystalline lattices are considered. In relation to physical realizability of such defects, criteria for geometric compatibility of the lattice distortions are formulated. For 2D lattices it is shown that the answer…
Topological surface states, a new kind of electronic state of matter, have recently been observed on the cleaved surfaces of crystals of a handful of small band gap semiconductors. The underlying chemical factors that enable these states…
Crystalline assemblages of identical sub-units packed together and elastically bent in the form of a torus have been found in the past ten years in a variety of systems of surprisingly different nature, such as viral capsids, self-assembled…
Topological defects are produced during phase transitions in the very early Universe. They arise in most unified theories of strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions. These lectures focus on the role of topological defects in…
A nematic liquid crystal confined to the surface of a sphere exhibits topological defects of total charge $+2$ due to the topological constraint. In equilibrium, the nematic field forms four $+1/2$ defects, located at the corners of a…
Knots and knotted fields enrich physical phenomena ranging from DNA and molecular chemistry to the vortices of fluid flows and textures of ordered media. Liquid crystals provide an ideal setting for exploring such topological phenomena…
Structural organization and correlations are studied in very large packings of equally sized acrylic spheres, reconstructed in three-dimensions by means of X-ray computed tomography. A novel technique, devised to analyze correlations among…
We investigate the influence of curvature and topology on crystalline wrinkling patterns in generic elastic bilayers. Our numerical analysis predicts that the total number of defects created by adiabatic compression exhibits universal…
We introduce a global optimization approach for binary clusters that for a given cluster size is able to directly search for the structure and composition that has the greatest stability. We apply this approach to binary Lennard-Jones…
Vacancy formation energetics fundamentally govern the structural integrity and catalytic behavior of metal surfaces. Contrary to conventional coordination-dependent broken-bond models, we identify an anomalous thermodynamic inversion on…
Structural defects are ubiquitous in condensed matter, and not always a nuisance. For example, they underlie phenomena such as Anderson localization and hyperuniformity, and they are now being exploited to engineer novel materials. Here, we…
We use computer simulations and simple theoretical models to analyze the morphologies that result when rod-like particles end-attach onto a curved surface, creating a finite-thickness monolayer aligned with the surface normal. This geometry…
Icosahedral nanoparticles composed of fivefold twinned tetrahedra have broad applications. The strain relief mechanism and angular deficiency in icosahedral multiply twinned particles are poorly understood in three dimensions. Here, we…
We investigate by Molecular Dynamics simulation a system of $N$ particles moving on the surface of a two-dimensional sphere and interacting by a Lennard-Jones potential. We detail the way to account for the changes brought by a nonzero…
The confinement of liquid crystals inside curved geometries leads to exotic structures, with applications ranging from bio-sensors to optical switches and privacy windows. Here we study how curvature affects the alignment of a cholesteric…
A general theory of topological classification of defects is introduced. We illustrate the application of tools from algebraic topology, including homotopy and cohomology groups, to classify defects including several explicit calculations…