Orientational order on curved surfaces - the high temperature region

Georg Foltin; Raphael A. Lehrer

doi:10.1088/0305-4470/33/6/304

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arXiv · cond-mat/9901095

Orientational order on curved surfaces - the high temperature region

Georg Foltin·Raphael A. Lehrer

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Abstract

We study orientational order, subject to thermal fluctuations, on a fixed curved surface. We derive, in particular, the average density of zeros of Gaussian distributed vector fields on a closed Riemannian manifold. Results are compared with the density of disclination charges obtained from a Coulomb gas model. Our model describes the disordered state of two dimensional objects with orientational degrees of freedom, such as vector ordering in Langmuir monolayers and lipid bilayers above the hexatic to fluid transition.

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Georg Foltin, Raphael A. Lehrer. 2000-02-10. Orientational order on curved surfaces - the high temperature region. https://doi.org/10.1088/0305-4470%2F33%2F6%2F304

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