Order and Defects in Soft Matter Architecture

技术概要该奖项支持在曲面和界面上软物质系统中的有序、缺陷和几何形状之间相互作用的理论和计算研究，重点关注晶体、六角、矢量和六角有序。拓扑缺陷甚至经常出现在曲面有序系统的基态。某些拓扑结构需要某些缺陷，如球体和其他形式，以降低系统的总能量。缺陷区是生物活性、化学连接、异常弹性反应和无序聚集的天然场所。本专题将深入了解各种曲面上的晶体、六角、矢量和双有序缺陷的首选配置类型。这将为第一性原理设计整个介观组分库（mesoatoms）铺平道路，介观组分库可以通过自组装或受控制造作为新型介观分子或块体材料的构建块。在拟议的研究过程中开发的技术和工具，包括分析方法，模拟小程序和数据库，将免费提供给跨学科的研究人员。PI计划让本科生，研究生和博士后同事参与他的研究计划。将作出特别努力，通过让物理专业学生参与软凝聚态研究项目，招聘和留住物理专业学生，特别是妇女。PI还计划通过一个新的软物质本科生将他的研究带入课堂，并通过周六上午物理课程和咖啡馆科学的锡拉丘兹章节的公开讲座以及对当地K-12学校的访问向更广泛的社区传播。作为研究项目开发的肥皂泡阵列在曲面上的演示可用于课堂和公开讲座。非技术总结该奖项支持理论和计算研究以及与凝聚态物理学、数学和生物学交叉点的实验相关的教育。PI将研究粒子如何在曲面上以及两种材料或介质之间的界面上组织起来。例如，实验已经能够将带有静电荷的小颗粒放置在悬浮在油中的水滴的球形表面上。粒子试图以规则的几何图案组织自己。但是因为它们是在一个球体上而不是在一个平面上，？伤疤？形式，其中一侧的有序数组与另一侧的不匹配。正如PI所示，理论至少能够对自组织系统的特征做出有用的预测。PI将研究更广泛的系统，目的是了解？伤疤？或出现的有序缺陷，以及几何形状如何用于控制粒子如何自组装成所需结构。病毒蛋白质外壳的结构是PI感兴趣的另一个例子。在这种情况下，分子可能会优先结合到病毒蛋白外壳曲面上存在缺陷的区域，这表明药物开发策略。相互作用的粒子如何在曲面上排列是数学领域的一个普遍问题。在拟议的研究过程中开发的技术和工具，包括分析方法，模拟小程序和数据库，将免费提供给跨学科的研究人员。PI计划让本科生，研究生和博士后同事参与他的研究计划。将作出特别努力，通过让物理专业学生参与软凝聚态研究项目，招聘和留住物理专业学生，特别是妇女。PI还计划通过一个新的软物质本科生将他的研究带入课堂，并通过周六上午物理课程和咖啡馆科学的锡拉丘兹章节的公开讲座以及对当地K-12学校的访问向更广泛的社区传播。作为研究项目开发的曲面上的肥皂泡阵列的演示可用于课堂和公开讲座。

TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical and computational research in contact with experiment on the interplay among order, defects and geometry in soft matter systems on curved surfaces and interfaces with a focus on crystalline, hexatic, vector and nematic order.Topological defects frequently appear even in the ground state of ordered systems on curved surfaces. Some defects are required by certain topologies such as the sphere and others form to lower the total energy of the system. Defect regions are natural places for biological activity, chemical linking, unusual elastic response and aggregation of disorder. This project will develop a thorough understanding of the preferred types of defect configurations for crystalline, hexatic, vector and nematic order on a variety of curved surfaces. This will pave the way for the first-principles design of entire libraries of mesoscale components (mesoatoms) that could serve as the building blocks of novel mesomolecules or bulk materials via self-assembly or controlled fabrication.A suite of tools from the fields of geometry, topology, statistical mechanics and computational science will be employed in this investigation which will be closely coupled with experimental groups. The techniques and tools developed in the course of the proposed research, including methods of analysis, simulation applets, and databases, would be made freely available to researchers across disciplines.The PI plans to involve undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates in his research program. A particular effort will be made to recruit and retain Physics majors, particularly women, by involving them in soft condensed matter research projects. The PI also plans to bring his research into the classroom through a new Soft Matter undergraduate and to the wider community through public lectures in the Saturday Morning Physics program and the Syracuse chapter of Cafe Scientifique as well as visits to local K-12 schools. Demonstrations of soap bubble arrays on curved surfaces developed as research projects can be used in both the classroom and public lectures.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical and computational research and education in contact with experiments that lies at the intersection of condensed matter physics, mathematics, and biology. The PI will study how particles organize themselves on curved surfaces and at the interfaces between two materials or media. For example, experiment has been able to place small particles with an electrostatic charge on the spherical surface of a water droplet suspended in oil. The particles attempt to organize themselves in a regular geometric pattern. But because they are on a sphere rather than a flat surface, ?scars? form where the ordered array on one side does not match up with that on the other. As shown by the PI, theory is at least able to make useful predictions about features of the self-organized system. The PI will study a wider variety of systems with an aim to understand the ?scars? or defects in ordering that emerge and how geometry might be used to control how particles self-assemble into desired structures. The structure of the protein coat on a virus is another example of interest to the PI. In this case, molecules might preferentially bind to areas where there are defects on curved surface of the virus protein coat suggesting strategies for drug development. The general challenging problem of how interacting particles arrange themselves on curved surfaces has been of general interest in the field of mathematics. The techniques and tools developed in the course of the proposed research, including methods of analysis, simulation applets, and databases, would be made freely available to researchers across disciplines.The PI plans to involve undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates in his research program. A particular effort will be made to recruit and retain Physics majors, particularly women, by involving them in soft condensed matter research projects. The PI also plans to bring his research into the classroom through a new Soft Matter undergraduate and to the wider community through public lectures in the Saturday Morning Physics program and the Syracuse chapter of Cafe Scientifique as well as visits to local K-12 schools. Demonstrations of soap bubble arrays on curved surfaces developed as research projects can be used in both the classroom and public lectures.