vbid/9780387878157

Description

This is a book on the dissipative dynamics of ordered fluids, with a particular focus on liquid crystals. It covers a whole range of different theories, mainly concerned with nematic liquid crystals in both their chiral and nonchiral variants. The authors begin by giving a detailed account of the molecular origins of orientational order in fluids. They then go on to develop a general framework in which continuum theories for ordered fluids can be phrased. Within this unified setting, they cover both well-established classical� theories and new ones with aspects that are not yet completely settled.� The book treats a wide range of hydrodynamic theories for liquid crystals, from the original 1960s works by Ericksen and Leslie to new, fast-developing� ideas of liquid crystal science. The final chapter is devoted to� nematoacoustics and its applications. Old experiments on the propagation of� ultrasound waves in nematic liquid crystals are interpreted and explained in the light of a new theory developed within the general theoretical� infrastructure proposed in the body of the book. This book is intended both for graduate students and professional scholars in mathematics, physics, and engineering of advanced materials. It delivers a solid framework for liquid crystal hydrodynamics and shows the unifying concepts at the basis of the classical theories. It illustrates how these concepts can also be applied to a wide variety of modern topics. Andre M. Sonnet is in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at� the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (Scotland) and Epifanio G. Virga is in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pavia (Italy). They have a long history of working together in liquid crystal science and have contributed, in particular, to the theories of defects and biaxial nematics.Typham this is the title: Dissipative Ordered Fluids Theories for Liquid Crystals