Exact equations of state for nematics

De Matteis, Giovanni, Giglio, Francesco and Moro, Antonio (2018) Exact equations of state for nematics. Annals of Physics, 396. pp. 386-396. ISSN 0003-4916

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2018.07.016

Abstract

We propose a novel approach to the solution of nematic Liquid Crystal models based on the derivation of a system of nonlinear wave equations for order parameters such that the occurrence of uniaxial and biaxial phase transitions can be interpreted as the propagation of a two-dimensional shock wave in the space of thermodynamic parameters. We obtain the exact equations of state for an integrable model of biaxial nematic liquid crystals and show that the classical transition from isotropic to uniaxial phase in absence of external fields is the result of a van der Waals type phase transition, where the jump in the order parameters is a classical shock generated from a gradient catastrophe at a non-zero isotropic field. The study of the equations of state provides the first analytical description of the rich structure of nematics phase diagrams in presence of external fields.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: Authors would like to thank the London Mathematical Society and GNFM - INdAM for supporting activities that contributed to the research reported in this paper.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nematic Liquid Crystals, Integrability, Phase Transitions, Biaxiality
Subjects: F300 Physics
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Depositing User: Paul Burns
Date Deposited: 09 Jul 2018 10:25
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2021 10:37
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34876

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