Nematic braids: topological invariants and rewiring of disclinations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new topological invariant called the self-linking number to classify entangled defect lines in nematic liquid crystals, surpassing traditional methods, and demonstrates a rewiring scheme for defect crossings.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel topological invariant for nematic defects and propose a rewiring scheme to predict and analyze nematic braids.

Findings

Self-linking number classifies entangled nematic defects.

Rewiring scheme predicts defect crossing configurations.

Formalism applied to colloidal dimers with entangled structures.

Abstract

The conventional topological description given by the fundamental group of nematic order parameter does not adequately explain the entangled defect line structures that have been observed in nematic colloids. We introduce a new topological invariant, the self-linking number, that enables a complete classification of entangled defect line structures in general nematics, even without particles, and demonstrate our formalism using colloidal dimers, for which entangled structures have been previously observed. We also unveil a simple rewiring scheme for the orthogonal crossing of two -1/2 disclinations, based on a tetrahedral rotation of two relevant disclination segments, that allows us to predict possible nematic braids and calculate their self-linking numbers.