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Activity Induced Nematic Order in Isotropic Liquid Crystals

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Abstract

We use linear stability analysis to show that an isotropic phase of elongated particles with dipolar flow fields can develop nematic order as a result of their activity. We argue that ordering is favoured if the particles are flow-aligning and is strongest if the wavevector of the order perturbation is neither parallel nor perpendicular to the nematic director. Numerical solutions of the hydrodynamic equations of motion of an active nematic confirm the results. The instability is contrasted to the well-known hydrodynamic instability of an ordered active nematic.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Santhan Chandragiri for helpful discussions. A.D was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Grant agreement No. NNF18SA0035142)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Sreejith Santhosh

  2. The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

    Mehrana R. Nejad & Julia M. Yeomans

  3. Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Amin Doostmohammadi

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Sumesh P. Thampi

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  1. Sreejith Santhosh
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  2. Mehrana R. Nejad
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  3. Amin Doostmohammadi
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  4. Julia M. Yeomans
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  5. Sumesh P. Thampi
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Correspondence to Sumesh P. Thampi.

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Communicated by Ivan Corwin.

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Santhosh, S., Nejad, M.R., Doostmohammadi, A. et al. Activity Induced Nematic Order in Isotropic Liquid Crystals. J Stat Phys 180, 699–709 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-020-02497-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-020-02497-0

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