Abstract
We study the topology of smectic defects in two and three dimensions. We give a topological classification of smectic point defects and disclination lines in three dimensions. In addition we describe the combination rules for smectic point defects in two and three dimensions, showing how the broken translational symmetry of the smectic confers a path dependence on the result of defect addition.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge conversations with B.G. Chen and R.A. Mosna. This work was partially supported by the NSF through Grant DMR-1262047 as well as a Simons Investigator award from the Simons Foundation to R.D.K.
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Communicated by H. T. Yau
Dedicated to Maurice Kléman on the occasion of his 84th birthday.
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Machon, T., Aharoni, H., Hu, Y. et al. Aspects of Defect Topology in Smectic Liquid Crystals. Commun. Math. Phys. 372, 525–542 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-019-03366-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-019-03366-y