Defect Dynamics in Active Nematics

Overview

Journal Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Biophysics
Public Health

Date 2014 Oct 22

PMID 25332389

Citations 42

Authors

Luca Giomi

Mark J Bowick

Prashant Mishra

Rastko Sknepnek

M Cristina Marchetti

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behaviour of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable with any set of local deformations. In active nematic liquid crystals, topological defects not only dictate the global structure of the director, but also act as local sources of motion, behaving as self-propelled particles. In this article, we present a detailed analytical and numerical study of the mechanics of topological defects in active nematic liquid crystals.

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