Related papers: A Ginzburg-Landau type problem for highly anisotro…
For $n\ge 3$ and $0<\epsilon\le 1$, let $\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n$ be a bounded smooth domain and $u_\epsilon:\Omega \subset\R^n\to \mathbb R^2$ solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation under the weak anchoring boundary condition: $$\begin{cases}…
We analyze a model problem based on highly disparate elastic constants that we propose in order to understand corners and cusps that form on the boundary between the nematic and isotropic phases in a liquid crystal. For a bounded planar…
We study the asymptotic behavior, when $\varepsilon\to0$, of the minimizers $\{u_\varepsilon\}_{\varepsilon>0}$ for the energy \begin{equation*} E_\varepsilon(u)=\int_{\Omega}\Big(|\nabla…
We study the weak anchoring condition for nematic liquid crystals in the context of the Landau-De Gennes model. We restrict our attention to two dimensional samples and to nematic director fields lying in the plane, for which the Landau-De…
This paper is concerned with the rigorous analysis of a recently proposed model of Zheng et. al. for describing nematic liquid crystals within the dense regime, with the orientation distribution function as the variable. A key feature of…
In this work, we study the nematic-isotropic phase transition based on the dynamics of the Landau--De Gennes theory of liquid crystals. At the critical temperature, the Landau--De Gennes bulk potential favors the isotropic phase and nematic…
We investigate the structure of nematic liquid crystal thin films described by the Landau--de Gennes tensor-valued order parameter with Dirichlet boundary conditions of nonzero degree. We prove that as the elasticity constant goes to zero a…
Let $\Omega$ be a smooth bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$. For $\epsilon>0$ small, we construct non-constant solutions to the Ginzburg-Landau equations $-\Delta u=\frac{1}{\epsilon^2}(1-|u|^2)u$ in $\Omega$ such that on $\partial \Omega$ u…
Liquid crystal droplets are of great interest from physics and applications. Rigorous mathematical analysis is challenging as the problem involves harmonic maps (and in general the Oseen-Frank model), free interfaces and topological defects…
We study the effects of elastic anisotropy on the Landau-de Gennes critical points for nematic liquid crystals, in a square domain. The elastic anisotropy is captured by a parameter, $L_2$, and the critical points are described by three…
We compute the $\Gamma$-limit of energy functionals describing mechanical systems composed of a thin nematic liquid crystal elastomer sustaining a homogeneous and isotropic elastic membrane. We work in the regime of infinitesimal…
We consider the simplest one-constant model, put forward by J. Ericksen, for nematic liquid crystals with variable degree of orientation. The equilibrium state is described by a director field $\mathbf{n}$ and its degree of orientation $s$,…
We consider nematic liquid crystals in a bounded, convex polyhedron described by a director field n(r) subject to tangent boundary conditions. We derive lower bounds for the one-constant elastic energy in terms of topological invariants.…
We study the effective geometric motions of an anisotropic Ginzburg--Landau equation with a small parameter $\varepsilon>0$ which characterizes the width of the transition layer. For well-prepared initial datum, we show that as…
The weak anisotropy of the interfacial free-energy $\gamma$ is a crucial parameter influencing dendritic crystal growth morphologies in systems with atomically rough solid-liquid interfaces. The physical origin and quantitative prediction…
We describe the asymptotic behavior of critical points of $\int_{\Omega} [(1/2)|\nabla u|^2+W(u)/\varepsilon^2]$ when $\varepsilon\to 0$. Here, $W$ is a Ginzburg-Landau type potential, vanishing on a simple closed curve $\Gamma$. Unlike the…
We analyze Ginzburg--Landau minimization problems in two dimensions with either a strong or weak" tangential boundary condition. These problems are motivated by experiments in liquid crystal with boundary defects. In the singular limit when…
In this paper we discuss the behavior of the Oseen-Frank model for nematic liquid crystals in the limit of vanishing thickness. More precisely, in a thin slab~$\Omega\times (0,h)$ with~$\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ and $h>0$ we consider the…
For any bounded, smooth domain $\Omega\subset \R^2$, %(or $\Omega=\R^2$), we will establish the weak compactness property of solutions to the simplified Ericksen-Leslie system for both uniaxial and biaxial nematics, and the convergence of…
We prove the existence of a weak solution to a non-isothermal compressible model for nematic liquid crystals. An initial-boundary value problem is studied in a bounded domain with large data. The existence of a global weak solution is…