Related papers: Nematic first order phase transition for liquid cr…
We consider an off-lattice liquid crystal pair potential in strictly two dimensions. The potential is purely repulsive and short-ranged. Nevertheless, by means of a single parameter in the potential, the system is shown to undergo a…
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 propose a novel approach to the solution of nematic Liquid Crystal models based on the derivation of a system of nonlinear wave equations for order parameters such that the occurrence of uniaxial and biaxial phase transitions can be…
We prove the existence of a phase transition in dimension $d>1$ in a continuum particle system interacting with a pair potential containing a modified attractive Kac potential of range $\gamma^{-1}$, with $\gamma>0$. This transition is…
We investigate experimentally the dynamic phase transition of a two-dimensional active nematic layer interfaced with a passive liquid crystal. Under a temperature ramp that leads to the transition of the passive liquid into a highly…
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 discuss thermotropic nematic liquid crystals in the mean-field regime. In the first part of this article, we rigorously carry out the mean-field limit of a system of $N$ rod-like particles as $N\to\infty$, which yields an effective…
The implications of soft `patchy' interactions on the orientational disorder-order transition of strongly elongated colloidal rods and flat disks is studied within a simple Onsager-van der Waals density functional theory. The theory…
Liquid crystals in two dimensions undergo a first-order isotropic-to-quasi-nematic transition, provided the particle interactions are sufficiently ``sharp and narrow''. This implies phase coexistence between isotropic and quasi-nematic…
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…
In this paper we complete the study of global minimizers of a forced, non autonomous, one dimensional, phase transition model, initiated in [8]. Motivated by the recent findings in [9], revealing new configurations of topological structures…
We revisit the phase structure and thermodynamics of QCD in the low temperature and high density region, where a strong, first-order phase transition is expected beyond the critical end point. By solving the quark gap equation in the…
Nematic liquid crystals exhibit configurations in which the underlying ordering changes markedly on macroscopic length scales. Such structures include topological defects in the nematic phase and tactoids within nematic-isotropic…
We describe a general model for the free energy function for a homogeneous medium of mutually interacting molecules, based on the formalism for a biaxial nematic liquid crystal set out by Katriel {\em et al.} (1986) in an influential paper…
We study the ground state of a system of spinless electrons interacting through a screened Coulomb potential in a lattice ring. By using analytical arguments, we show that, when the effective interaction compares with the kinetic energy,…
Van der Waals interactions between flat surfaces in uniaxial anisotropic media are investigated in the nonretarded limit. The main focus is the effect of nonzero tilt between the optical axis and the surface normal on the strength of van…
A one-dimensional long-range model of classical rotators with an extended degree of complexity, as compared to paradigmatic long-range systems, is introduced and studied. Working at constant density, in the thermodynamic limit one can prove…
We demonstrate that a first order isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals can be succesfully modeled within the generalized Landau-de Gennes theory by selecting an appropriate combination of elastic constants. The numerical…
Using a generalized order parameter gradient expansion within density functional theory, we derive a phase-field-crystal model for liquid crystals composed by apolar particles in three spatial dimensions. Both the translational density and…
We introduce a density-functional formalism based on the Parsons-Lee and the generalized van der Waals theories in order to describe the thermodynamics of anisotropic particle systems with steric interactions. For ellipsoids of revolution,…