title: Chiral symmetry breaking in bent-core liquid crystals.
abstract: By molecular modeling we demonstrate that the nematic long-range order discovered in bent-core liquid-crystal systems should reveal further spatially homogeneous phases. Two of them are identified as a tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T}) phase with D_{2d} symmetry and a chiral tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T};{ *}) phase with D2 symmetry. These phases were found for a lattice model with quadrupolar and octupolar anisotropic interactions using mean-field theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagrams exhibit tetrahedratic (T) , N_{T} , and N_{T};{ *} phases, in addition to ordinary isotropic (I) , uniaxial nematic (N_{U}) , and biaxial nematic (N_{B}) phases.
authors.affiliation: Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Department of Statistical Physics and Mark Kac Center for Complex Systems Research, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, Kraków, Poland. lech.longa@uj.edu.pl
authors.forename: Lech
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Longa
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pajak
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wydro