Universal mean-field phase diagram for biaxial nematics obtained from a minimax principle.
We study a class of quadratic Hamiltonians which describe both fully attractive and partly repulsive molecular interactions, characteristic of biaxial liquid crystal molecules. To treat the partly repulsive interactions we establish a minimax principle for the associated mean-field free energy. We show that the phase diagram described by Sonnet [Phys. Rev. E 67, 061701 (2003)] is universal. Our predictions are in good agreement with the recent observations on both V-shaped and tetrapodal molecules.
Bisi
Fulvio
F
Dipartimento di Matematica and CNISM, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Virga
Epifanio G
EG
Gartland
Eugene C
EC
De Matteis
Giovanni
G
Sonnet
André M
AM
Durand
Georges E
GE