Magnetic field-induced stability of a specific configuration and the asymptotic behavior of minimizers in nematic liquid crystals

We consider the stability of a specific nematic liquid crystal configuration under an applied magnetic field. We impose the strong anchoring condition, and we allow the boundary data to be nonconstant and also the applied field to be nonconstant. Thus, we shall extend the results of Lin and Pan in 2007. We show that for some specific configuration there exist 2 critical values Hn and Hsh of applied magnetic field. When the intensity of the magnetic field is smaller than Hn, the configuration of the energy is only a global minimizer, when the intensity is between Hn and Hsh, the configuration is not a global minimizer, but is weakly stable, and when the intensity is larger than Hsh, the configuration is not weakly stable. Moreover, we also examine the behavior of minimal values of energy and the asymptotic behavior of the global minimizer as the intensity tends to infinity.

Magnetic field-induced stability of a specific configuration and the asymptotic behavior of minimizers in nematic liquid crystals

We consider the stability of a specific nematic liquid crystal configuration under an applied magnetic field. We impose the strong anchoring condition, and we allow the boundary data to be nonconstant and also the applied field to be nonconstant. Thus, we shall extend the results of Lin and Pan in 2007. We show that for some specific configuration there exist 2 critical values Hn and Hsh of applied magnetic field. When the intensity of the magnetic field is smaller than Hn, the configuration of the energy is only a global minimizer, when the intensity is between Hn and Hsh, the configuration is not a global minimizer, but is weakly stable, and when the intensity is larger than Hsh, the configuration is not weakly stable. Moreover, we also examine the behavior of minimal values of energy and the asymptotic behavior of the global minimizer as the intensity tends to infinity.

___

  • Aramaki, J.: The Freedericksz transition and the asymptotic behavior in nematic liquid crystals. J. Partial Differential Equations 25, 276-294 (2012).
  • Aramaki, J.: The effect of external fields in the theory of liquid crystals. Tokyo J. Math. 35, 181–211 (2012).
  • Aramaki, J.: Asymptotic behavior of nematic states of liquid crystals. Int. Math. Forum 6, 1763–1775 (2011).
  • Atkin, R. J., Stewart, I. W.: Freedricksz transitions in spherical droplets of smectic C liquid crystals. Quart. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 47, 231–245 (1994).
  • Atkin, R. J., Stewart, I. W.: Theoretical studies of Freedricksz transitions in Sm C liquid crystals. European J. Appl. Math. 8, 252–262 (1997).
  • Bauman, P., Calderer, M. C., Liu, C., Phillips, D.: The phase transition between chiral nematic and smectic A ∗ liquid crystals. Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 165, 161–186 (2001).
  • Chen, Y- Z., Wu, L- C.: Second order elliptic equations and elliptic systems. Translations of Math. Mono. 174, AMS 1991.
  • Cohen, R., Luskin, M.: Field-induced instabilities in nematic liquid crystals. In: Nematics. (Eds.: J.-M. Coron et al. ). NATO Adv. Sci. Inst. Ser. C Math. Phys. Sci. 332, Dordrecht. Kluwer Academic Publishers 261–278 (1991). Dautray, R., Lions, J. L.: Mathematical Analysis and Numerical Method for Science and Technology Vol. 3. New York. Springer Verlag 1990. de Gennes, P. G., Prost, J.: The Physics of Liquid Crystals, Second edition. Oxford Science Publications 1993.
  • Ericksen, J. L.: Equilibrium theory of liquid crystals. Advances in Liquid Crystals 2 (Ed.: G. H. Brown). Academic Press (1976).
  • Gilbarg, D., N. S. Trudinger, N. S.: Elliptic Partial Differential Equations of Second Order. New York. Springer 19 Hardt, R., Kinderlehrer, D., Lin, F- H.: Existence and partial regularity of static liquid crystal configurations. Commun. Math. Phys. 105, 547–570 (1986).
  • Hildebrandt, S., Kaul, H., Widman, K- O.: An Existence theorem for harmonic mappings of Riemannian manifolds, Acta Math. 138, 1–16 (1977).
  • J¨ ager, W., Kaul, H.: Uniqueness and stability of harmonic maps and their Jacobi fields. Manus. Math. 28, 269–291 (1979).
  • Jost, J.: Harmonic mappings between Riemannian manifold. Proceedings of the Center for Mathematical Analysis, Australian National University 4 529–531 (1983).
  • Lin, F- H., Pan, X. -B.: Magnetic field-induced instabilities in liquid crystals. SIAM J. Math. Anal. 38, 1588–1612 (2007).
  • Lin, F- H., Wang, C.: The analysis of harmonic maps and their heat flow. New Jersey-London-Singapore-BeijingShanghai-Hong Kong-Taipei-Chennnai. World Scientific 2008.
  • Schoen, R., Uhlenbeck, K.: A regularity theory for harmonic maps. J. Diff. Geometry 17, 307–335 (1982).
  • Schoen, R., Uhlenbeck, K.: Boundary regularity and the Dirichlet problem for harmonic maps. J. Diff. Geometry 18, 259-268 (1983).