Symmetry breaking and stability of defects in liquid crystals
21 July 2015 - 4 August 2015This event is part of an intensive research period:
Research in Pairs 2015.
Aims
The aim of our proposal is to address central problems of the Q-tensor theory related to formation of singularities, defects, and phase transitions in nematic liquid crystals. The progress in these problems will be impor- tant not only for understanding the behavior of liquid crystalline systems, but also systems of polymers, complex fluids, biophysical systems. Moreover, the mathematical methods that we want to develop have their own interest by their richness, the variety of tools and the links they weave between dif- ferent domains : analysis, calculus of variations, nonlinear systems of elliptic partial differential equations and conservation laws.