Instability of point defects in a two-dimensional nematic liquid crystal model (Q305121): Difference between revisions

The authors consider a class of critical (stationary) points of the Landau-de Gennes model for nematic liquid crystals in two dimensions. They consider a class of points with degree \(k\), corresponding to the winding number \(k/2\). The main result, proven via ODE and PDE methods, is that for \(k\) equal to \(2\) and higher, these points are unstable.