Mean-field limit and phase transitions for nematic liquid crystals in the continuum

DOI10.1007/S10955-017-1829-4zbMATH Open1386.82072arXiv1508.05025OpenAlexW2963946852MaRDI QIDQ1687254FDOQ1687254

Authors: S. Bachmann, François Genoud 

Publication date: 22 December 2017

Published in: Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We discuss thermotropic nematic liquid crystals in the mean-field regime. In the first part of this article, we rigorously carry out the mean-field limit of a system of $N$ rod-like particles as $Noinfty$, which yields an effective `one-body' free energy functional. In the second part, we focus on spatially homogeneous systems, for which we study the associated Euler-Lagrange equation, with a focus on phase transitions for general axisymmetric potentials. We prove that the system is isotropic at high temperature, while anisotropic distributions appear through a transcritical bifurcation as the temperature is lowered. Finally, as the temperature goes to zero we also prove, in the concrete case of the Maier-Saupe potential, that the system converges to perfect nematic order.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05025

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zbMATH Keywords

phase transitionliquid crystalsscaling limit

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Phase transitions (general) in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B26) Statistical mechanics of random media, disordered materials (including liquid crystals and spin glasses) (82D30)

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Cited In (9)

• Generalization of the Maier-Saupe theory of the nematics within Tsallis thermostatistics
• Space dependent mean field approximation modelling
• Order and liquid crystals
• On the Dynamics of the Weak Fréedericksz Transition for Nematic Liquid Crystals
• Mean field analysis of low-dimensional systems
• Elementary statistical models for nematic transitions in liquid-crystalline systems
• The isotropic and nematic liquid crystal phase of colloidal rods
• Nematic first order phase transition for liquid crystals in the van der Waals-Kac limit
• Vortices in two-dimensional nematics

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