Physics Commons^™

Filaments, Fibers, And Foliations In Frustrated Soft Materials, Daria Atkinson

Doctoral Dissertations

Assemblies of one-dimensional filaments appear in a wide range of physical systems: from biopolymer bundles, columnar liquid crystals, and superconductor vortex arrays; to familiar macroscopic materials, like ropes, cables, and textiles. Interactions between the constituent filaments in such systems are most sensitive to the distance of closest approach between the central curves which approximate their configuration, subjecting these distinct assemblies to common geometric constraints. Dual to strong dependence of inter-filament interactions on changes in the distance of closest approach is their relative insensitivity to reptations, translations along the filament backbone. In this dissertation, after briefly reviewing the mechanics and …