Reduction theory for symmetry breaking with applications to nematic systems (Q602730)

The symmetry breaking is considered in the context of the reduction theory, whose main example consists of nematic particles in liquid crystals. The Euler-Poincaré and Lagrange-Poincaré equations for systems with broken symmetry are formulated and then they are applied to the case of a transitive group action to an order parameter manifold. The geometric construction is applied to order parameter spaces conisting of either unsigned unit vectors (directors) or symmetric matrices (alignment tensors). All these techniques are extended at the continuum level to obtain hydrodynamic models. As a result, all the geometric features of the microscopic particle dynamics are naturally transferred at the macroscopic fluid level without substantial modifications. Considering the Hamiltonian formalism, one obtains the corresponding Poisson brackets in both Lie-Poisson and Hamilton-Poincaré formulations. Two explicit expressions for the helicity of uniaxial nematic liquid crystals are given. A whole class of invariant quantities (Casimirs) for two-dimensional incompressible flows is also presented.