A new classification of topological defects

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• Randy Kamien (U Penn)
• Tuesday 12 February 2019, 13:00-14:00
• MR11, CMS.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Professor Mike Cates.

Nearly 50 years ago, homotopy theory was employed to unify our understanding of topological defects in superfluids, superconductors, crystals, and liquid crystals. It was understood, however, that when there is broken translation invariance (as in crystals and some liquid crystals) that this approach required additional constraints. I will demonstrate the problem, propose a solution which allows us to characterise the topological defects in these systems, and demonstrate a new classification in the case of smectic liquid crystals, the simplest of these broken-translational-symmetry states.

This talk is part of the DAMTP Statistical Physics and Soft Matter Seminar series.

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• All CMS events
• DAMTP Statistical Physics and Soft Matter Seminar
• MR11, CMS
• Soft Matter
• bld31

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