title: Biaxial nematic phase in model bent-core systems.
abstract: We determine the bifurcation phase diagrams with isotropic (I), uniaxial (N(U)) and biaxial (N(B)) nematic phases for model bent-core mesogens using Onsager-type theory. The molecules comprise two or three Gay-Berne interacting ellipsoids of uniaxial and biaxial shape and a transverse central dipole. The Landau point is found to turn into an I-N(B) line for the three-center model with a large dipole moment. For the biaxial ellipsoids, a line of Landau points is observed even in the absence of the dipoles.
authors.affiliation: Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Department of Statistical Physics and Mark Kac Center for Complex Systems Research, Jagellonian University, Reymonta 4, Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grzybowski
authors.forename: Lech
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Longa