Hydrodynamics of pair-annihilating disclinations in SmC films.
The pair annihilation of smectic c-director defects with winding numbers +/-1 in a freestanding SmC film as a representative of the XY model is studied numerically, considering a full coupling of orientational degrees of freedom and hydrodynamics. A reduction of the annihilation time compared to the nonhydrodynamic treatment is observed. It is demonstrated that the +1 disclination moves considerably faster than the -1 one primarily due to hydrodynamic flow, weakly assisted also by elastic anisotropy. The stress tensor terms and material parameters relevant for this effect are identified.
Svensek
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Department of Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. daniel@fiz.uni-lj.si
Zumer
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