Glassiness of thermotropic liquid crystals across the isotropic-nematic transition

The orientational dynamics of thermotropic liquid crystals across the isotropic-nematic phase transition have traditionally been investigated at long times or low frequencies using frequency domain measurements. The situation has now changed significantly with the recent report of a series of interesting transient optical Kerr effect (OKE) experiments that probed orientational relaxation of a number of calamitic liquid crystals (which consist of rod-like molecules) directly in the time domain, over a wide time window ranging from subpicoseconds to tens of microseconds. The most intriguing revelation is that the decay of the OKE signal at short to intermediate times (from a few tens of picoseconds to several hundred nanoseconds) follows multiple temporal power laws. Another remarkable feature that has emerged from these OKE measurements is the similarity in the orientational relaxation behavior between the isotropic phase of calamitic liquid crystals near the isotropic-nematic transition and supercooled molecular liquids, notwithstanding their largely different macroscopic states. In this article, we present an overview of the understanding that has emerged from recent computational and theoretical studies of calamitic liquid crystals across the isotropic-nematic transition. Topics discussed include (a) single-particle as well as collective orientational dynamics at a short-to-intermediate time window, (b) heterogeneous dynamics in orientational degrees of freedom diagnosed by a non-Gaussian parameter, (c) fragility, and (d) temperature-dependent exploration of underlying energy landscapes as calamitic liquid crystals settle into increasingly ordered mesophases upon cooling from the high-temperature isotropic phase. A comparison of our results with those of supercooled molecular liquids reveals an array of analogous features in these two important classes of soft matter systems. We further find that the onset of growth of the orientational order in the parent nematic phase induces translational order, resulting in smectic-like layers in the potential energy minima of calamitic systems if the parent nematic phase is sandwiched between the high-temperature isotropic phase and the low-temperature smectic phase. We discuss implications of this startling observation. We also discuss recent results on the orientational dynamics of discotic liquid crystals that are found to be rather similar to those of calamitic liquid crystals.     

UV-visible spectroscopic study of solvation in ternary solvent mixtures: ketocyanine dye in methanol + acetone + water and methanol + acetone + benzene

Solvation characteristics of a ketocyanine dye have been studied in completely miscible ternary solvent mixtures, namely, methanol + acetone + water and methanol + acetone + benzene, by monitoring the solvatochromic absorption band of the dye. The maximum energy of absorption (E) of the solute in a ternary solvent mixture differs significantly from the mole fraction average of the E values in the component solvents. Results in the corresponding binary solvent mixtures also show a deviation of the E value from the mole fraction averaged E values. The results have been explained in terms of preferential solvation using a two phase model of solvation. The excess or deficit over the bulk composition of a solvent component in the vicinity of the solute molecule in a ternary solvent mixture has been estimated using the knowledge of solvation in the corresponding binary mixtures.     

Electrostatic relaxation and hydrodynamic interactions for self-diffusion of ions in electrolyte solutions

The concentration dependence of self-diffusion of ions in solutions at large concentrations has remained an interesting yet unsolved problem. Here we develop a self-consistent microscopic approach based on the ideas of mode-coupling theory. It allows us to calculate both contributions which influence the friction of a moving ion: the ion atmosphere relaxation and hydrodynamic interactions. The resulting theory provides an excellent agreement with known experimental results over a wide concentration range. Interestingly, the mode-coupling self-consistent calculation of friction reveal a nonlinear coupling between the hydrodynamic interactions and the ion atmosphere relaxation which enhances ion diffusion by reducing friction, particularly at intermediate ion concentrations. This rather striking result has its origin in the similar time scales of the relaxation of the ion atmosphere relaxation and the hydrodynamic term, which are essentially given by the Debye relaxation time. The results are also in agreement with computer simulations, with and without hydrodynamic interactions.     

A Triangulation of ?P 3 as Symmetric Cube of S 2

The symmetric group $\operatorname{Sym}(d)$ acts on the Cartesian product (S ²) ^d by coordinate permutation, and the quotient space $(S^{2})^{d}/\operatorname{Sym}(d)$ is homeomorphic to the complex projective space ?P ^d . We used the case d=2 of this fact to construct a 10-vertex triangulation of ?P ² earlier. In this paper, we have constructed a 124-vertex simplicial subdivision $(S^{2})^{3}_{124}$ of the 64-vertex standard cellulation $(S^{2}_{4})^{3}$ of (S ²)³, such that the $\operatorname{Sym}(3)$ -action on this cellulation naturally extends to an action on $(S^{2})^{3}_{124}$ . Further, the $\operatorname{Sym}(3)$ -action on $(S^{2})^{3}_{124}$ is ??good??, so that the quotient simplicial complex $(S^{2})^{3}_{124}/\operatorname{Sym}(3)$ is a 30-vertex triangulation $\mathbb{C}P^{3}_{30}$ of ?P ³. In other words, we have constructed a simplicial realization $(S^{2})^{3}_{124} \to\mathbb{C} P^{3}_{30}$ of the branched covering (S ²)³???P ³.     

Multiple short time power laws in the orientational relaxation of nematic liquid crystals

Relaxation in the nematic liquid crystalline phase is known to be sensitive to its proximity to both isotropic and smectic phases. Recent transient optical Kerr effect (OKE) studies have revealed, rather surprisingly, two temporal power laws at short to intermediate times and also an apparent absence of the expected exponential decay at longer times. In order to understand this unusual dynamics, we have carried out extensive molecular dynamics simulations of transient OKE and related orientational time correlation functions in a system of prolate ellipsoids (with aspect ratio equal to 3). The simulations find two distinct power laws, with a crossover region, in the decay of the orientational time correlation function at short to intermediate times (in the range of a few picoseconds to a few nanoseconds). In addition, the simulation results fail to recover any long time exponential decay component. The system size dependence of the exponents suggests that the first power law may originate from the local orientational density fluctuations (like in a glassy liquid). The origin of the second power law is less clear and may be related to the long range fluctuations (such as smecticlike density fluctuations)--these fluctuations are expected to involve small free energy barriers. In support of the latter, the evidence of pronounced coupling between orientational and spatial densities at intermediate wave numbers is presented. This coupling is usually small in normal isotropic liquids, but it is large in the present case. In addition to slow collective orientational relaxation, the single particle orientational relaxation is also found to exhibit slow dynamics in the nematic phase in the long time.     

Coupling between hydration layer dynamics and unfolding kinetics of HP-36

We have performed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous solutions of HP-36 at 300 K in its native state, as well as at high temperatures to explore the unfolding dynamics of the protein and its correlation with the motion of water around it. On increasing the temperature a partially unfolded molten globule state is formed where the smallest alpha helix (helix 2) unfolds into a coil. It is observed that the unfolding is initiated around the residue Phe-18 which shows a sharp displacement during unfolding. We have noticed that the unfolding of the protein affects the density of water near the protein surface. Besides, the dynamics of water in the protein hydration layer has been found to be strongly correlated with the time evolution of the unfolding process. We have introduced and calculated a displacement time correlation function to monitor the change in water motion relative to the protein backbone during unfolding. We find that the unfolding of helix 2 is associated with an increase in mobility of water around it as compared to water around the other two helices. We have also explored the microscopic aspects of secondary structure specific and site specific solvation dynamics of the protein. The calculations reveal that unfolding influences the solvation dynamics of the protein molecule in a heterogeneous manner depending on the location of the polar probe residues. This seems to be in agreement with recent experimental findings.     

Roe–Strichartz theorem on two-step nilpotent Lie groupsa

Strichartz characterized eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on Euclidean spaces by boundedness conditions which generalized a result of Roe for the one-dimensional case. He also proved an analogous statement for the sub-Laplacian on the Heisenberg groups. In this paper, we extend this result to connected, simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie groups.