Bifurcation analysis in a frustrated nematic cell

DOI10.1007/S00332-014-9216-7zbMATH Open1316.76009arXiv1310.6920OpenAlexW3099462234MaRDI QIDQ484452FDOQ484452

Authors: Xavier Lamy 

Publication date: 7 January 2015

Published in: Journal of Nonlinear Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Using Landau-de Gennes theory to describe nematic order, we study a frustrated cell consisting of nematic liquid crystal confined between two parallel plates. We prove the uniqueness of equilibrium states for a small cell width. Letting the cell width grow, we study the behaviour of this unique solution. Restricting ourselves to a certain interval of temperature, we prove that this solution becomes unstable at a critical value of the cell width. Moreover, we show that this loss of stability comes with the appearance of two new solutions: there is a symmetric pitchfork bifurcation. This picture agrees with numerical simulations performed by P. Palffy-Muhorray, E.C. Gartland and J.R. Kelly. Some of the methods that we use in the present paper apply to other situations, and we present the proofs in a general setting. More precisely, the paper contains the proof of a general uniqueness result for a class of perturbed quasilinear elliptic systems, and general considerations about symmetric solutions and their stability, in the spirit of Palais' Principle of Symmetric Criticality.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.6920

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zbMATH Keywords

Euler-Lagrange equationminimizereigenvalue exchange solutionLandau-de Gennes reduced free energy

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

PDEs in connection with fluid mechanics (35Q35) Liquid crystals (76A15) Hydrodynamic stability (76E99)

Cites Work

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Cited In (22)

• Order Reconstruction for Nematics on Squares and Hexagons: A Landau--de Gennes Study
• Global uniform estimate for the modulus of two-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau vortexless solutions with asymptotically infinite boundary energy
• Bifurcation analysis of spontaneous flows in active nematic fluids
• A Reduced Study for Nematic Equilibria on Two-Dimensional Polygons
• On the covergence of minimizers of singular perturbation functionals
• A Multifaceted Study of Nematic Order Reconstruction in Microfluidic Channels
• Order reconstruction for nematics on squares with isotropic inclusions: a Landau-de Gennes study
• Relieving nematic geometric frustration in the plane
• One-dimensional ferronematics in a channel: order reconstruction, bifurcations, and multistability
• Symmetry and pattern formation for a planar layer of nematic liquid crystal
• Minimizers of the Landau-de Gennes energy around a spherical colloid particle
• Pattern formation for nematic liquid crystals -- modelling, analysis, and applications
• Entire vortex solutions of negative degree for the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau system
• The radial hedgehog solution in the Landau-de Gennes theory: effects of the bulk potentials
• Nematic liquid crystals in a rectangular confinement: solution landscape, and bifurcation
• Uniaxial symmetry in nematic liquid crystals
• Singular perturbation of manifold-valued maps with anisotropic energy
• Harmonic maps with prescribed degrees on the boundary of an annulus and bifurcation of catenoids
• Bifurcations analysis of the twist-Fréedericksz transition in a nematic liquid-crystal cell with pre-twist boundary conditions: the asymmetric case
• Saturn ring defect around a spherical particle immersed in a nematic liquid crystal
• Revisiting the two-dimensional defect-free azimuthal nematic equilibrium on an annulus
• Surface, size and topological effects for some nematic equilibria on rectangular domains

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