Related papers: Topological rigidity in twisted, elastic ribbons
Polymers in a melt may be subject to topological constraints, as in the example of unlinked polymer rings. How to do statistical mechanics in the presence of such constraints remains a fundamental open problem. We study the effect of…
We study a family of non-Abelian topological models in a lattice that arise by modifying the Kitaev model through the introduction of single-qudit terms. The effect of these terms amounts to a reduction of the discrete gauge symmetry with…
Recent experimental observations have suggested that topological defects can facilitate the creation of sharp features in developing embryos. Whereas these observations echo established knowledge about the interplay between geometry and…
Topological defects are a ubiquitous phenomenon in diverse physical systems. In nematic liquid crystals (LCs), they are dynamic, physicochemically distinct, sensitive to stimuli, and are thereby promising for a range of applications.…
Polymers with active segments constitute prospective future materials and are used as a model for some biological systems such as chromatin. The directions of the active forces are typically introduced with temporal or spatial correlations…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into directional motion, giving rise to striking dynamical phenomena. Developing a general understanding of their structure in relation to the underlying non-equilibrium physics would…
We employ a first principles, force-level approach to self-consistently construct the anharmonic tube confinement field for entangled fluids of rigid needles and for primitive-path (PP) level chains in two limiting situations where chain…
Thin sheets that are forced at their boundaries develop a variety of shapes aimed at minimising elastic energy by curving spontaneously in ways that break the symmetry of the sheet and the forcing. Characterising such buckling generally…
A rigidity theory is developed for bar-joint frameworks in $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$ whose vertices are constrained to lie on concentric $d$-spheres with independently variable radii. In particular, combinatorial characterisations are established…
This paper presents a synthesis approach in a density-based topology optimization setting to design large deformation compliant mechanisms for inducing desired strains in biological tissues. The modelling is based on geometrical…
Microscopic symmetries impose strong constraints on the elasticity of a crystalline solid. In addition to the usual spatial symmetries captured by the tensorial character of the elastic tensor, hidden non-spatial symmetries can occur…
Defects in topologically ordered models have interesting properties that are reminiscent of the anyonic excitations of the models themselves. For example, dislocations in the toric code model are known as twists and possess properties that…
Topological superconductivity hosts protected quasiparticles and is central to topological quantum computation, yet its realization in intrinsic materials remains challenging and often relies on engineered platforms. Here we uncover a…
When a thin sheet is crushed into a small three-dimensional volume, it invariably forms a structure with a low volume fraction but high resistance to further compression. Being a far-from-equilibrium process, forced crumpling is not…
As we enter the age of designer matter - where objects can morph and change shape on command - what tools do we need to create shape-shifting structures? At the heart of an elastic deformation is the combination of dilation and distortion,…
Fractional Dehn twists give a measure of the difference between the relative isotopy class of a homeomorphism of a bordered surface and the Thurston representative of its free isotopy class. We show how to estimate and compute these…
Predicting the large-amplitude deformations of thin elastic sheets is difficult due to the complications of self-contact, geometric nonlinearities, and a multitude of low-lying energy states. We study a simple two-dimensional setting where…
A number of mechanisms that lead to the confinement of patterns to a small part of a translationally symmetric pattern-forming system are reviewed: nonadiabatic locking of fronts, global coupling and conservation laws, dispersion, and…
The theory of pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems is extended to the case of a directed network. Due to the structure of the network Laplacian of the scrutinised system, the dispersion relation has both real and imaginary parts,…
Many vertebrate motor and sensory systems decussate, or cross the midline to the opposite side of the body. The successful crossing of millions of axons during development requires a complex of tightly controlled regulatory processes.…