A shape optimization problem for nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops (Q6967211)

This paper studies the existence of stable equilibrium configurations of nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops surrounded by an isotropic solution. This is done by minimizing a classical energy in that context defined by \N\[\N\mathcal{F}(\Omega,\mathbf{n}):=\int_\Omega W(\Omega,,\mathbf{n}) dx + \int_{\partial\Omega} g(,\mathbf{n},\nu) d\mathcal{H}^2\N\]\Nwhere \(\mathbf{n}\) is a unit vector (called the director) defining the orientation at the point \(x\) and \(\nu\) is the exterior normal vector. In this energy, \(W\) is an explicit even function, quadratic in \(\nabla \mathbf{n}\) and \(g\) is given by the Rapini-Papoular formula.\N\NThe notion of admissible geometry is quite important in that context. Choosing a class of domains that allow discontinuities in the nematic director field (these discontinuities could be concentrated on isolated points, lines or surfaces) is particularly important. In the classical theory, one works with bounded, Lipschitz domains and nematic fields in the Sobolev space \(W^{1,2}(\Omega,S^2)\) that does not allow such a rich sample of discontinuities. Therefore in this paper, the authors extend the shape optimization problem to a broader class of admissible domains that admit inner boundaries which may be lines or surfaces and across which the director \(\mathbf{n}\) can be discontinuous. The problem becomes a free discontinuity problem and we need to use the SBV framework. This kind of relaxation is now classical. In particular, the authors are able to prove existence of a solution for this relaxed version and moreover the minimum value equals the infimum of the functional among smooth domains.