J F Sadoc and J Charvolin 2009 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 42 465209 doi:10.1088/1751-8113/42/46/465209
J F Sadoc and J Charvolin
Show affiliationsChiral molecules, when densely packed in soft condensed matter or biological materials, build organizations which are most often spontaneously twisted. The crystals of 'blue' phases formed by small mesogenic molecules demonstrate the structural importance of such a twist or torsion, and its presence was also recently observed in finite toroidal aggregates formed by long DNA molecules. The formation of these organizations is driven by the fact that compactness, which tends to align the molecules, enters into conflict with torsion, which tends to disrupt this alignment. This conflict of topological nature, or frustration, arises because of the flatness of the Euclidean space, but does not exist in the curved space of the 3-sphere where particular lines, its fibres, can be drawn which are parallel and nevertheless twisted. As these fibrations conciliate compactness and torsion, they can be used as geometrical templates for the analysis of organizations in the Euclidean space. We describe these fibrations, with a particular emphasis on their torsion.
61.30.Cz Molecular and microscopic models and theories of liquid crystal structure
61.30.Gd Orientational order of liquid crystals; electric and magnetic field effects on order
76A15 Liquid crystals (See also 82D30)
Issue 46 (20 November 2009)
Received 29 May 2009, in final form 10 September 2009
Published 26 October 2009
J F Sadoc and J Charvolin 2009 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 42 465209
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