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SUMMARY:Textures and Topology in Liquid Crystals - Alexander\, GP (Univers
 ity of Warwick)
DTSTART:20130624T130000Z
DTEND:20130624T134500Z
UID:TALK45860@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:The textures of liquid crystals have always been central in id
 entifying mesophases and understanding their properties. They are deeply c
 onnected with topology\, both of the liquid crystal and of the environment
  that it lives in\, so that controlling and describing topological propert
 ies provides a key tool in constructing and understanding complex three-di
 mensional textures. I will describe two applications of topological ideas 
 to studying mesophases: the general characterisation of three-dimensional 
 textures in nematics -- illustrated through the analysis of torons and the
  Hopf fibration in confined cholesterics -- and the formation of elegant k
 nots and links around colloidal particles representing non-orientable surf
 aces. \n
LOCATION:Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Meeting Room 2
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