Machon, Thomas and Alexander, Gareth P. (2018) Woven nematic defects, skyrmions, and the Abelian sandpile model. Physical Review Letters, 121 (23). 237801. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.237801

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Abstract

We show that a fixed set of woven defect lines in a nematic liquid crystal supports a set of nonsingular topological states which can be mapped on t o recurrent stable configurations in the Abelian sandpile model or chip-firing game. The physical correspondence between local skyrmion flux and sandpile height is made between the two models. Using a toy model of the elastic energy, we examine the structure of energy minima as a function of topological class and show that the system admits domain wall skyrmion solitons.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Nematic liquid crystals, Skyrme model
Journal or Publication Title:	Physical Review Letters
Publisher:	American Physical Society
ISSN:	0031-9007
Official Date:	7 December 2018
Dates:	Date Event 7 December 2018 Published 3 December 2018 Available 8 November 2018 Accepted
Date of first compliant deposit:	4 December 2018
Volume:	121
Number:	23
Article Number:	237801
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.237801
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Publisher Statement:	© 2018 American Physical Society
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:	Project/Grant ID RIOXX Funder Name Funder ID MR-1262047 National Science Foundation http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001

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