Critical clusters in liquid crystals: Fractal geometry and conformal invariance

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Almeida, Renan A. L., Arenzon, Jeferson J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Almeida, Renan A. L.
Arenzon, Jeferson J.
author_facet Almeida, Renan A. L.
Arenzon, Jeferson J.
contents We study the two-dimensional domain morphology of twisted nematic liquid crystals during their phase-ordering kinetics [R. A. L. Almeida, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131 (2023) 268101], which is a physical candidate to self-generate critical clusters in the percolation universality class. Here we present experimental evidence that large clusters and their hulls are indeed both fractals with dimensions of the corresponding figures in critical percolation models. The asymptotic decay of a crossing probability, from a region in the vicinity of the origin to the boundary of disks, is described by the Lawler-Schramm-Werner theorem provided that a microscopic length in the original formulation is replaced by the coarsening length of the liquid crystal. Furthermore, the behavior for the winding angle of large loops is, at certain scales, compatible with that of Schramm-Loewner evolution curves with diffusivity $κ= 6$. These results show an experimental realization of critical clusters in phase ordering.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_20788
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Critical clusters in liquid crystals: Fractal geometry and conformal invariance
Almeida, Renan A. L.
Arenzon, Jeferson J.
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
We study the two-dimensional domain morphology of twisted nematic liquid crystals during their phase-ordering kinetics [R. A. L. Almeida, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131 (2023) 268101], which is a physical candidate to self-generate critical clusters in the percolation universality class. Here we present experimental evidence that large clusters and their hulls are indeed both fractals with dimensions of the corresponding figures in critical percolation models. The asymptotic decay of a crossing probability, from a region in the vicinity of the origin to the boundary of disks, is described by the Lawler-Schramm-Werner theorem provided that a microscopic length in the original formulation is replaced by the coarsening length of the liquid crystal. Furthermore, the behavior for the winding angle of large loops is, at certain scales, compatible with that of Schramm-Loewner evolution curves with diffusivity $κ= 6$. These results show an experimental realization of critical clusters in phase ordering.
title Critical clusters in liquid crystals: Fractal geometry and conformal invariance
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20788