Physics – Condensed Matter
Scientific paper
1997-07-18
Physics
Condensed Matter
21 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev. E
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.56.6843
The phase-ordering kinetics of a bulk uniaxial nematic liquid crystal is addressed using techniques that have been successfully applied to describe ordering in the O(n) model. The method involves constructing an appropriate mapping between the order-parameter tensor and a Gaussian auxiliary field. The mapping accounts both for the geometry of the director about the dominant charge 1/2 string defects and biaxiality near the string cores. At late-times t following a quench, there exists a scaling regime where the bulk nematic liquid crystal and the three-dimensional O(2) model are found to be isomorphic, within the Gaussian approximation. As a consequence, the scaling function for order-parameter correlations in the nematic liquid crystal is exactly that of the O(2) model, and the length characteristic of the strings grows as $t^{1/2}$. These results are in accord with experiment and simulation. Related models dealing with thin films and monopole defects in the bulk are presented and discussed.
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