Related papers: Nematic--to--Smectic-A Transition in Aerogel
The dynamics of glacial cycles is studied in terms of the dynamical systems theory. We explore the dependence of the climate state on the phase of astronomical forcing by examining five conceptual models of glacial cycles proposed in the…
We study the disorder-to-order transition in a collection of polar self-propelled particles interacting through a distance dependent alignment interaction. Strength of the interaction, $a^{d}$ ($0<a<1$) decays with metric distance $d$…
We investigate the phase behaviour of a two-dimensional colloidal model system of ultra-soft particles on a substrate which varies periodically along one spatial direction. Our calculations are based on mean-field density functional theory…
Nematic elastomers do not show the discontinuous, first-order, phase transition that the Landau-De Gennes mean field theory predicts for a quadrupolar ordering in 3D. We attribute this behavior to the presence of network crosslinks, which…
Liquid crystalline systems exhibiting both macroscopic chirality and smectic order experience frustration resulting in mesophases possessing complex three-dimensional order. In the twist-grain-boundary phase, defect lattices mediate the…
Glasses encode the memory of any thermo-mechanical treatment applied to them. This ability is associated to the existence of a myriad of metastable amorphous states which can be probed through different experimental pathways. It is usually…
We describe our perspective on the Structural Glass Transition (SGT) problem built on the premise that a viable theory must provide a consistent picture of the dynamics and statics, which are manifested by large increase in shear viscosity…
The description of thermodynamic phase transitions in terms of percolation transitions of suitably defined clusters has a long tradition and boasts a number of important successes, the most prominent ones being in ferromagnetic lattice…
In the novel superfluid polar phase realized in liquid 3He in highly anisotropic aerogels, a quantum transition to the polar-distorted A (PdA) phase may occur at a low but finite pressure Pc(0). It is shown that a nontrivial quantum…
Motivated by the experimentally observed shear-induced destabilization and reorientation of smectic A like systems, we consider an extended formulation of smectic A hydrodynamics. We include both, the smectic layering (via the layer…
In a previous paper [Phys. Rev. E 90, 022506 (2014)], we had studied thermodynamic and structural properties of a three-dimensional simple-cubic lattice model with dipolar-like interaction, truncated at nearest-neighbor separation, for…
We study the effects of weak point and columnar disorder on the vortex-lattice phase transitions in high temperature superconductors. The combined effect of thermal fluctuations and of quenched disorder is investigated using a simplified…
We consider a system of non-interacting fermions in one dimension subject to a single-particle potential consisting of (a) a strong optical lattice, (b) a harmonic trap, and (c) uncorrelated on-site disorder. After a quench, in which the…
In soft matter, the phase of nematic liquid crystals can be made from anisotropic molecules in single component materials, or as a suspension of mesoscopic nematogens. The later offers more versatility in the experimental design of complex…
Topological defects play a central role in the formation and organization of various biological systems. Historically, such nonequilibrium defects have been mainly studied in the context of homogeneous active nematics. Phase-separated…
The theory presented is based on a simple Hamiltonian for a vortex lattice in a weak impurity background which includes linear elasticity and plasticity, the latter in the form of integer valued fields accounting for defects. Within a…
Starting from an ideal crystalline state, we numerically study a nonequilibrium dynamical order- disorder transition promoted by the application of a periodic shearing protocol at low temperatures in model systems in two and three…
Using a modified Lennard-Jones model for elliptic particles and spherical impurities, we present results of molecular dynamics simulation in two dimensions. In one-component systems of elliptic particles, we find an orientation phase…
The two-dimensional XY-model with random phase-shifts on bonds is studied. The analysis is based on a renormalization group for the replicated system. The model is shown to have an ordered phase with quasi long-range order. This ordered…
A unidirectional "density" wave order in an otherwise isotropic environment is guaranteed to display a smecticlike Goldstone mode. Examples of such "soft" states include conventional smectic liquid crystals, putative…