2020/02/15 by D. J. G. Pearce, D J G Pearce · 15 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Curvature #Cylinder #Instability #Liquid crystal #Micro and Nano Robotics #Perpendicular #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Surface (topology) #Symmetry (geometry) #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/ab91fd
published in New Journal of Physics 22(6), 063051 (IOP Publishing) · 6 pages, 7 Figures
arxiv created 2020/02/15 · openalex created_date 2020/02/24 · openalex publication_date 2020/05/11 · arxiv updated 2020/08/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We investigate the effects of extrinsic curvature on the turbulent behavior of a 2D active nematic confined to the surface of a cylinder. The surface of a cylinder has no intrinsic curvature and only extrinsic curvature. A nematic field reacts to the extrinsic curvature by trying to align with the lowest principle curvature, in this case parallel to the long axis of the cylinder. When nematics are sufficiently active, there is a proliferation of defects arising from a bend or splay instability depending on the nature of the active stress. The extrinsic curvature of the cylinder breaks the rotational symmetry of this process, implying that defects are created parallel or perpendicular to the cylinder depending on whether the active nematic is contractile or extensile.