Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 344 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the polar molecular field, with the positive functional derivative convention used in the paper. During a pure advective displacement , the polar order parameter changes byThe free energy change is . Assume periodic boundaries, or boundary conditions that eliminate the surface work, and incompressibility . Integration by parts in the advective term givesRelabelling the dummy indices in the rotational and flow alignment of a polar order parameter terms givesTherefore , with the reversible stress of a polar liquid crystalFor a local free-energy density , an explicit choice isIts divergence is exactly , by the Euler-Lagrange equation for . A pressure term can be reassigned in an incompressible flow; the chosen representative realizes the printed divergence without that ambiguity. The force density has mechanical power , the negative of the advective free energy rate, which checks the stress sign.