Splitting, linking, knotting, and solitonic escape of topological defects in nematic drops with handles.

ABSTRACT: Topologically nontrivial field excitations, including solitonic, linked, and knotted structures, play important roles in physical systems ranging from classical fluids and liquid crystals, to electromagnetism, classic, and quantum field theories. These excitations can appear spontaneously during symmetry-breaking phase transitions. For example, in cosmological theories, cosmic strings may have formed knotted configurations influencing the Early Universe development, whereas in liquid crystals transient tangled defect lines were observed during isotropic-nematic transitions, eventually relaxing to defect-free states. Knotted and solitonic fields and defects were also obtained using optical manipulation, complex-shaped colloids, and frustrated cholesterics. Here we use confinement of nematic

SUBMITTER: Tasinkevych M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4246280 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature