Abstract
We study the radial-hedgehog solution in a three-dimensional spherical droplet, with homeotropic boundary conditions, within the Landau-de Gennes theory for nematic liquid crystals. The radial-hedgehog solution is a candidate for a global Landau-de Gennes minimiser in this model framework and is also a prototype configuration for studying isolated point defects in condensed matter physics. The static properties of the radial-hedgehog solution are governed by a non-linear singular ordinary differential equation. We study the analogies between Ginzburg-Landau vortices and the radial-hedgehog solution and demonstrate a Ginzburg-Landau limit for the Landau-de Gennes theory. We prove that the radial-hedgehog solution is not the global Landau-de Gennes minimiser for droplets of finite radius and sufficiently low temperatures and prove the stability of the radial-hedgehog solution in other parameter regimes. These results contain quantitative information about the effect of geometry and temperature on the properties of the radial-hedgehog solution and the associated biaxial instabilities. © Copyright Cambridge University Press 2011.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 61-97 |
| Number of pages | 37 |
| Journal | European Journal of Applied Mathematics |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 6 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUK-C1-013-04
Acknowledgements: This publication is based on work supported by Award No. KUK-C1-013-04, made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to the Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics. The author gratefully acknowledges stimulating discussions with Chong Luo, Valeriy Slastikov and Epifanio Virga. We thank Luc Nguyen and Arghir Zarnescu for helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.