Related papers: Passive defect driven morphogenesis in nematic mem…
Anisotropic fluids appear in a diverse array of systems, from liquid-crystal displays to bacterial swarms, and are characterized by orientational order. Large colloidal particles immersed in such environments disturb the medium's…
It is increasingly common for models of shallow-layer overland flows to include equations for the evolution of the underlying bed (morphodynamics) and the motion of an associated sedimentary phase. We investigate the linear stability…
The rheology of biological tissues is important for their function, and we would like to better understand how single cells control global tissue properties such as tissue fluidity. A confluent tissue can fluidize when cells diffuse by…
Anisotropic rod-like particles form liquid crystalline phases with varying degrees of orientational and translational order. When confined geometrically, these phases can give rise to topological defects, which can be selected and…
We analyse here the problem of large deformation of dielectric elastomeric membranes under coupled electromechanical loading. Extremely large deformations (enclosed volume changes of 100 times and greater) of a toroidal membrane are studied…
The role of applied fields on the structure of liquid crystals confined to shell geometries has been studied in past theoretical work, providing strategies to produce liquid crystal shells with controlled defect structure or valence.…
The adhesion dynamics of a membrane confined between two permeable walls is studied using a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The membrane morphology decomposes into adhesion patches on the upper and the lower walls and obeys a nonlinear…
Nematic solids respond strongly to changes in ambient heat or light, significantly differently parallel and perpendicular to the director. This phenomenon is well characterized for uniform director fields, but not for defect textures. We…
We simulate a two dimensional model of self-propelled particles confined by a deformable boundary. The particles tend to accumulate near the boundary and the shape of the boundary deforms upon the collisions. We find that there are two…
We discuss (2+1)D topological phases on non-orientable spatial surfaces, such as M\"obius strip, real projective plane and Klein bottle, etc., which are obtained by twisting the parent topological phases by their underlying pairty…
A ubiquitous motif in nature is the self-similar hierarchical buckling of a thin lamina near its margins. This is seen in leaves, flowers, fungi, corals, and marine invertebrates. We investigate this morphology from the perspective of…
We investigate the emergence of orientational order among +1/2 disclinations in active nematic liquid crystals. Using a combination of theoretical and experimental methods, we show that +1/2 disclinations have short-range antiferromagnetic…
We develop a continuum theory to describe the collective dynamics of deformable epithelial cells, using two tensor order parameters to distinguish the force-generating active filaments in the cells from their shape. The theory demonstrates…
A hallmark feature of topologically ordered states of matter is the dependence of ground state degeneracy (GSD) on the topology of the manifold determined by the global shape of the system. Although the topology of a physical system is…
We demonstrate that field theories involving explicit breaking of continous symmetries, incorporate two generic classes of topological defects each of which is stable for a particular range of parameters. The first class includes defects of…
This contribution is intended for Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical Special issue on Non-equilibrium Dynamics in Complex Systems: Celebrating the Contributions of Uwe T\"{a}uber on his 60th Birthday. Cones with…
We investigate the ground state configurations of $p$-atic liquid crystals on fixed curved surfaces. We focus on the intrinsic geometry and show that isothermal coordinates are particularly convenient as they explicitly encode a geometric…
Point-like motile topological defects control the universal dynamics of diverse two-dimensional active nematics ranging from shaken granular rods to cellular monolayers. A comparable understanding in higher dimensions has yet to emerge. We…
Drops of active liquid crystal have recently shown the ability to self-propel, which was associated with topological defects in the orientation of active filaments [Sanchez {\em et al.}, Nature {\bf 491}, 431 (2013)]. Here, we study the…
The dynamics of active smectic liquid crystals confined on a spherical surface is explored through an active phase field crystal model. Starting from an initially randomly perturbed isotropic phase, several types of topological defects are…