A data structure is said to be self-adjusting if it dynamically reorganizes itself to adapt to the pattern of accesses. Efficiency is typically measured in terms of amortized complexity, that is, the average running time of an access over an arbitrary sequence of accesses. The best known example of such a data structure is Sleator and Tarjan’s splay tree. In this paper, we introduce a self-adju...

We report on two anomalous trends in the temperature dependences of the splay (K11) and bend (K33) elastic constants in the nematic (N) phase of mixtures of compounds with rodlike (R) and bent-core (BC) molecules: As the sample is cooled from the isotropic to N transition point, (i) K33 increases, attains a maximum value and then decreases, and (ii) close to the N to smectic A (SmA) transition ...

The presumed ground state of a nematic fluid confined in a cylindrical geometry with planar anchoring corresponds to that of an axial configuration, wherein the director, free of deformations, is along the long axis of the cylinder. However, upon confinement of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals in cylindrical geometries, here we uncover a surprising ground state corresponding to a doubly twis...

We consider a simplified model of the chevron structure observed in thin cells of ferroelectric smectic liquid crystals, based on a generalization of the "uniaxial" (or "nematic") approximation of orientation elasticity. This model allows for the conciliation of the continuous nature of the layers with the matching conditions postulated by Clark, and takes large rotations of the c-director into...

To investigate the existence of a splay effect in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi-2212), vortex pinning has been studied in different configurations of strongly inclined columnar defects (75◦ from the c axis), installed by heavy-ion irradiation. It is shown that the symmetry of the track setting with respect to the field direction is a more influent parameter than the presence of a dispersion in the track di...

I n t h i n nemat ic f i lms the d i rec tor field n may on ly depend on z, the n o r m a l to the film p lane. There are two stable conf igurat ions w i t h less than a l l three types of de fo rma t ion present, the pure tw is t and the pure splay-bend. Fo r the pure tw is t under the add i t i ona l in f luence of an ex te rna l field n o r m a l to the tw is t p lane the range of s tab i l ...

A molecular-statistical theory of the orientational elasticity nematic liquid crystals has been developed employing deformation tensor which describes rotation director. An explicit expression for general phase obtained and Frank elastic constants are expressed in terms three independent parameters this tensor. Explicit expressions have derived molecular field approximation order corresponding ...

Stability of an idealized hyperbolic hedgehog in a nematic liquid crystal against a twist transition is investigated by extending the methodology of Rüdinger and Stark [Liq. Cryst. 26, 753 (1999)], where the hedgehog is confined between two concentric spheres. In the ideal hyperbolic-hedgehog the molecular orientation is assumed to rotate proportionally with respect to the inclination angle, θ ...