Smectic Topology, Tomography, and Topography
| MEMBERS SEMINAR | |
| Topic: | Smectic Topology, Tomography, and Topography |
| Speaker: | Randy Kamien |
| Affiliation: | University of Pennsylvania and Member, School of Mathematics |
| Date: | Monday, November 2 |
| Time/Room: | 2:00pm - 3:00pm/S-101 |
Smectic liquid crystals correspond to certain foliations of Euclidean space. I will discuss the topology of defects in the smectics. Typically the index of these topological defects is characterized via the fundamental group of the manifold of ground states. I will review this approach and present a new formulation of the classification of defects which avoids inconsistencies in the traditional homotopy approach. No background necessary!