Global solution to the compressible non-isothermal nematic liquid crystal equations with constant heat conductivity and vacuum

This paper considers the initial-boundary value problem of the one-dimensional full compressible nematic liquid crystal flow problem. The initial density is allowed to touch vacuum, and the viscous and heat conductivity coefficients are kept to be positive constants. Global existence of strong solutions is established for any $H^{2}$ H 2 initial data in the Lagrangian flow map coordinate, which holds for both vacuum and non-vacuum case. The key difficulty is caused by the lack of the positive lower bound of the density. To overcome such difficulty, it is observed that the ratio of $\frac{\rho _{0(y)}}{\rho (t,y)}$ ρ 0 ( y ) ρ ( t , y ) is proportional to the time integral of the upper bound of temperature and vector director field, along the trajectory. Density weighted Sobolev type inequalities are constructed for both temperature and director field in terms of $\frac{\rho _{0(y)}}{\rho (t,y)}$ ρ 0 ( y ) ρ ( t , y ) and small dependence on their dissipation estimates. Besides this, to deal with cross terms arising due to liquid crystal flow, higher order priori estimates are established by using effective viscous flux.

Interplay of Active Stress and Driven Flow in Self-Assembled, Tumbling Active Nematics

Lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) are a special type of hierarchical material in which self-assembled molecular aggregates are responsible for the formation of liquid crystal phases. Thanks to its unusual material properties and bio compatibility, it has found wide applications including the formation of active nematic liquid crystals. Recent experiments have uncovered tumbling character of certain LCLCs. However, how tumbling behavior modifies structure and flow in driven and active nematics is poorly understood. Here, we rely on continuum simulation to study the interplay of extensile active stress and externally driven flow in a flow-tumbling nematic with a low twist modulus to mimic nematic LCLCs. We find that a spontaneous transverse flow can be developed in a flow-tumbling active nematic confined to a hybrid alignment cell when it is in log-rolling mode at sufficiently high activities. The orientation of the total spontaneous flow is tunable by tuning the active stress. We further show that activity can suppress pressure-driven flow of a flow-tumbling nematic in a planar-anchoring cell but can also promote a transition of the director field under a pressure gradient in a homeotropic-anchoring cell. Remarkably, we demonstrate that the frequency of unsteady director dynamics in a tumbling nematic under Couette flow is invariant against active stress when below a threshold activity but exhibits a discontinuous increase when above the threshold at which a complex, periodic spatiotemporal director pattern emerges. Taken together, our simulations reveal qualitative differences between flow-tumbling and flow-aligning active nematics and suggest potential applications of tumbling nematics in microfluidics.

The Freedericksz Transition in a Spatially Varying Magnetic Field

Much is known about the Freedericksz transition induced by uniform electric and magnetic fields in nematic liquid crystals. In this work, we are interested in the effects of a spatially varying field on the transition. Specifically, we study the director configuration in a homeotropic nematic cell in a spatially varying magnetic field with cylindrical symmetry. The experiment is conducted with a ring magnet which provides a radial magnetic field with magnitude monotonically decreasing to zero at the center. The nematic cell is positioned in the central plane of the ring, with the cell normal parallel to the ring normal. Interference patterns of the nematic cell between crossed polarizers were observed. The director configuration in the nematic cell is modeled with Frank–Oseen theory, and the computed interference pattern from the simulated director field are compared with experiment. We conclude that if the magnetic field strength varies with position in the plane of the cell, there is no Freedericksz transition.

EQUIVALENCE OF THE HUNTER-SAXON EQUATION AND THE GENERALIZED HEISENBERG FERROMAGNET EQUATION

Integrable systems play an important role in modern mathematics, theoretical and mathematical physics. The display of integrable equations with exact solutions and some special solutions can provide important guarantees for the analysis of its various properties. The Hunter-Saxton equation belongs to the family of integrable systems. The extensive and interesting mathematical theory, underlying the Hunter-Saxton equation, creates active mathematical and physical research. The Hunter-Saxton equation (HSE) is a high-frequency limit of the famous Camassa-Holm equation. The physical interpretation of HSE is the propagation of weakly nonlinear orientation waves in a massive nematic liquid crystal director field. In this paper, we propose a matrix form of the Lax representation for HSE in 𝑠𝑢ሺ𝑛 ൅ 1ሻ/𝑠ሺ𝑢ሺ1ሻ ⊕ 𝑢ሺ𝑛ሻሻ - symmetric space for the case 𝑛 ൌ 2. Lax pairs, introduced in 1968 by Peter Lax, are a tool for finding conserved quantities of integrable evolutionary differential equations. The Lax representation expands the possibilities of the equation we are considering. For example, in this paper, we will use the matrix Lax representation for the HSE to establish the gauge equivalence of this equation with the generalized Heisenberg ferromagnet equation (GHFE). The famous Heisenberg Ferromagnet Equation (HFE) is one of the classical equations integrable through the inverse scattering transform. In this paper, we will consider its generalization. Andalso the connection between the decisions of the HSE and the GHFE will be presented.

A generalized density-modulated twist-splay-bend phase of banana-shaped particles

In 1976, Meyer predicted that bend distortions of the nematic director field are complemented by deformations of either twist or splay, yielding twist-bend and splay-bend nematic phases, respectively. Four decades later, the existence of the splay-bend nematic phase remains dubious, and the origin of these spontaneous distortions uncertain. Here, we conjecture that bend deformations of the nematic director can be complemented by simultaneous distortions of both twist and splay, yielding a twist-splay-bend nematic phase. Using theory and simulations, we show that the coupling between polar order and bend deformations drives the formation of modulated phases in systems of curved rods. We find that twist-bend phases transition to splay-bend phases via intermediate twist-splay-bend phases, and that splay distortions are always accompanied by periodic density modulations due to the coupling of the particle curvature with the non-uniform curvature of the splayed director field, implying that the twist-splay-bend and splay-bend phases of banana-shaped particles are actually smectic phases.

Textures of Nematic Liquid Crystal Cylindric-Section Droplets Confined by Chemically Patterned Surfaces

The director fields adopted by nematic liquid crystals (LCs) that are confined by the surface to form long, thin droplets are investigated using polarising optical microscopy. Samples are produced by de-wetting of the LC on a surface patterned with alternating high-surface energy and low-surface energy stripes of 10–30 μm width. The droplets obtained are expected to adopt a profile which is that of a longitudinal section of a cylinder and, as this suggests, the director fields observed are variants in the case where the LC is constrained in a cylindrical capillary or fibre. Hence, when there is normal anchoring at the air interface, the textures observed are related to the well-known escaped radial texture (for the nematic LC mixture E7) or plane polar texture (for the LC mixture MLC6609). More surprising is the observation that the nematic LC mixture MLC7023, which is anchored in a planar or tilted manner at the air interface, also gives what appears to be an escaped radial director field. As an exploration of the possibility of using these systems in creating sensors, the effects of adding a chiral dopant and of adding water to the substrates are also investigated.

Memory effects, arches and polar defect ordering at the cross-over from wet to dry active nematics

As the friction is increased, memory effects become prominent and +1/2 defects leave persistent trails in the director field.