Static Theory of Point Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Abstract

In recent years, important advances have been made in developing the first mathematically rigorous, nonlinear theory of defects in materials. It deals with the static theory of point defects in nematic liquid crystals. This is a brief exposition of important results, along with some discussion of possible formations of droplet problems. Also included are very interesting and hitherto unpublished data from Pat Cladis’s laboratory, on the motion of two point defects in a capillary, a fairly simple physical example of a kind of dynamical problem not yet treated by theorists.