A unified view on the rotational symmetry of equilibiria of nematic polymers, dipolar nematic polymers, and polymers in higher dimensional space (Q1011864)

In the reviewed article equilibrium states of the Smoluchowski equation for rigid, rod-like polymer ensembles are studied. The authors start with several cases in the three dimensional space: a) nematic polymers where the only intermolecular interaction is the excluded volume effect, modeled using the Maier-Saupe potential, b) dipolar nematic polymers where the intermolecular interaction consists of the dipole-dipole potential and the Maier-Saupe potential, c) dipolar nematic polymers in the presence of a stretching elongational How, and d) nematic polymers in higher dimensional space. For each of the cases a), b) and c), it has been established separately that all stable equilibrium slates have rotational symmetry. In this paper a unified view of the rotational symmetry of cases a), b) and c) is presented. Specifically, in cases a), b) and c), the rotational symmetry is determined by a key inequality. The inequality, once established for case a), is extended elegantly to cases b) and c). Furthermore, this inequality is used in case d) to establish the rotational symmetry of equilibrium states of nematic polymers in higher dimensional space. In three dimensional space, rotational symmetry simply means axisymmetry. In higher dimensional space, rotational symmetry is more complex in structure. Nevertheless, the rotational symmetry significantly simplifies the classification of equilibrium states. The authors calculate and present phase diagrams of nematic polymers in higher dimensional spaces.