Found 1 result(s)
regular seminar Swapnil Jaideo Kole (University of Cambridge)
at: 13:30 - 14:30 KCL, Strand room: S4.23 abstract: | At thermal equilibrium, chiral molecules form a range of liquid-crystalline phases, such as the cholesteric which presents a helical structure of the molecular orientation. Chirality, though essential to the construction of the cholesteric, is totally absent in its long-wavelength hydrodynamics, which is identical to that of the achiral smectic-A liquid crystal. This cloaking of chirality, however, relies on the existence of an energy function for the dynamics. I will talk about how macroscopic mechanics of active layered phases carry striking chiral signatures. Thanks to the mix of solid and liquid-like directions, the chiral active stresses create a force density tangent to contours of constant mean curvature of the layers. This non-dissipative force in a fluid direction – odder than odd elasticity – leads, in the presence of an active instability, to spontaneous vortical flows arranged in a two-dimensional array with vorticity aligned along the pitch axis and alternating in sign in the plane.
|