title: Ohta-jasnow-kawasaki approximation for nonconserved coarsening under shear
abstract: We analytically study coarsening dynamics in a system with nonconserved scalar order parameter, when a uniform time-independent shear flow is present. We use an anisotropic version of the Ohta-Jasnow-Kawasaki approximation to calculate the growth exponents in two and three dimensions: for d=3 the exponents we find are the same as expected on the basis of simple scaling arguments, that is, 3/2 in the flow direction and 1/2 in all the other directions, while for d=2 we find an unusual behavior, in that the domains experience an unlimited narrowing for very large times and a nontrivial dynamical scaling appears. In addition, we consider the case where an oscillatory shear is applied to a two-dimensional system, finding in this case a standard t(1/2) growth, modulated by periodic oscillations. We support our two-dimensional results by means of numerical simulations and we propose to test our predictions by experiments on twisted nematic liquid crystals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavagna
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Travasso