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# Disclination Motion in Hexatic and Smectic-𝐶 Films

## Introduction

Physics of thin liquid-crystalline films has been a recurrent hot topic during the past decade because of their intriguing physical properties and wide applications in display devices, sensors, and for many other purposes. Hexatic and smectic-$`C`$ liquid crystalline films, we consider, belong to two-dimensional systems with spontaneously broken continuous symmetry. Therefore an essential role in the behavior of the films is played by vortex-like excitations (disclinations). Defects are almost necessarily present in liquid crystals, and their dynamics plays a crucial role in the overall pattern organization. Early studies of defects focused on classifying the static properties of the defects and their interactions gen ; chandra . More recently the focus has moved to examining the dynamics of defects (see, e.g., OP00  and references herein). Note that though in most practical applications of liquid crystals, such as traditional display devices, defects destroy an optical adjustment, and therefore are not desirable, there are novel display designs (bistable, multidomain liquid crystalline structures) just exploiting defect properties.

Unfortunately, theoretical researches of dynamic characteristics of the films are in a rather primitive stage, in spite of the fact that experimental dynamic studies are likely to be more fruitful. It is largely accounted for by a complexity of dynamic phenomena in the films, and a complete and unifying description of the problem is still not available. Moreover, some papers devoted to these problem (dynamics of defects) claim contradicting results. These contradictions come mainly from the fact that different authors take into account different microscopic dissipation mechanisms, but partially the source of controversy is related to semantics, since different definitions for the forces acting on defects are used (see, e.g., discussion in SO97 ).

In this paper we examine theoretically the disclination dynamics in free standing hexatic and smectic-$`C`$ films at scales, much larger than their thickness, where the films can be treated as $`2d`$ objects. Our investigation is devoted to the first (but compulsory) step of defect dynamics studies: a single point disclination in a hexatic or smectic-$`C`$ film. A number of theoretical efforts PL88 ; BP88 ; PR90 ; RK91 ; DE96  deal with similar problems. Our justification for adding one more paper to the topic is the fact that we did not see in the literature a full investigation of the problem taking into account hydrodynamic back-flow effects. Evidently, these effects can drastically modify dynamics of defects. The goal of this work is to study the disclination motion in free standing liquid crystalline films on the basis of hydrodynamic equations, containing some phenomenological parameters (elasticity modulus, shear and rotational viscosity coefficients).

In our approach the disclination is assumed to be driven by a large-scale inhomogeneity in the bond or director angle providing a velocity for the disclination motion (relative to the film). As a physical realization of such non-uniform angle field, one can have in mind a system of disclinations distributed with a finite density. Then the inhomogeneity near a given disclination is produced by fields of other disclinations. One can also think about a pair of disclinations of opposite topological charges, then this inhomogeneity is related to mutual orientational distortion fields created by each disclination at the point of its counterpart. In fact, the majority of experimental and numerical studies of disclination motions in liquid crystals and their models CP80 ; CS87 ; PT91 ; YP93 ; LD87 ; DO00 ; DO01 ; TD02 ; FU98  is devoted just to investigation of the dynamics of two oppositely charged defects. We solve the hydrodynamic equations and find bond angle and flow velocity distributions around the moving disclination. The results enable us to relate the disclination velocity and a gradient of the bond angle far from the moving disclination.

An obvious object, where our results can be applied, is the film dynamics near the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition. The static properties of the films near the transition have been investigated in a huge number of papers starting from the famous papers by Berezinskii BE70  and Kosterlitz and Thouless KT73 . There is some literature discussing the theory of dynamic phenomena associated with vortex-like excitations in condensed matter physics: vortices in type-II superconductors (see, e.g., BF94 ), vortices in superfluid $`{}_{}{}^{4}He`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{3}He`$ (see, e.g., HV56 ; SO87 ), dislocations in crystals and disclinations (and other topological defects) in liquid crystals (see WC85 ; DP86 ; rev ; CP80 ; CS87 ; PT91 ; MC92 ; YP93 ; LD87 ). However, most of the theoretical works on the topic start from phenomenological equations of motion of the defects, and our aim is to derive the equations and to check their validity.

Our paper has the following structure. Section I contains basic hydrodynamic equations for liquid crystalline films necessary for our investigation. In Section II we find the bond angle and the flow velocity around the uniformly moving disclination in different regions, that allows us to relate the disclination velocity to the angle gradient far from the disclination. Different cases, depending on the ratio of the rotational and shear viscosity coefficients, are examined in Section III. The last section IV contains summary and discussion. Appendix is devoted to details of calculations of the velocity and bond angle fields around the moving disclination. Those readers who are not very interested in mathematical derivations can skip this Appendix finding all essential physical results in the main text of the paper.

## I Basic relations for hexatic and smectic-$`C`$ films

Let us formulate basic relations needed to describe disclination motion in thin liquid crystalline films. Here we investigate freely suspended films on scales, larger than the thickness of the films, where they can be treated as two-dimensional objects. Such object can be described in terms of a macroscopic approach, containing some phenomenological parameters.

There are different types of the film ordering. Experimentally, hexatic and smectic-$`C`$ films are observed. In these films, as in $`3d`$ nematic liquid crystals, the rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken. The smectic-$`C`$ films are characterized by the liquid crystalline director which is tilted with respect to the normal to the film, therefore there is a specific direction along the film. In the hexatic films molecules are locally arranged in a triangular lattice, however the lattice is not an ideal one. The positional order does not extend over distances larger than a few molecular size. Nevertheless, the bond order extends over macroscopic distances. Therefore the phase is characterized by the $`D_{6h}`$ point group symmetry. The order parameter for the smectic-$`C`$ films is an irreducible tensor $`Q_{\alpha \beta }`$ (the subscripts denoted by Greek letters run two values, since we treat the films as $`2d`$ objects). The hexatic order parameter is an irreducible symmetric sixth-rank tensor $`Q_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta \mu \nu }`$ gur , both such tensors have two independent components. Note that the order in the smectic-$`C`$ films can be readily observed, by looking for in-plane anisotropies in quantities such as the dielectric permeability tensor. Because of its intrinsic sixfold rotational symmetry, hexatic orientational order is hardly observable. However, it can be detected, e.g., as a sixfold pattern of spots in the in-plane monodomain $`X`$-ray structure factor, proportional to $`Q_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta \mu \nu }`$ (see, e.g., OP00  and references herein).

In accordance with the Goldstone theorem, in the both cases of smectics-$`C`$ and hexatics the only “soft” degree of freedom of the order parameter is relevant on large scales, which is an angle $`\phi `$ (like the phase of the order parameter for the superfluid $`{}_{}{}^{4}He`$). It is convenient to express a variation of the order parameter in terms of a variation of the angle $`\phi `$. For the smectic-$`C`$ films the relation is

$`\delta Q_{\alpha \beta }=\delta \phi ϵ_{\alpha \mu }Q_{\mu \beta }\delta \phi ϵ_{\beta \mu }Q_{\alpha \mu },`$ (1)
where $`ϵ_{\alpha \rho }`$ is the two-dimensional antisymmetric tensor. For the hexatic films

$`\delta Q_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta \mu \nu }=\delta \phi ϵ_{\alpha \rho }Q_{\rho \beta \gamma \delta \mu \nu }+\mathrm{},`$ (2)
where dots represent a sum of all possible combinations of the same structure. Thus for the both films symmetries the order parameter can be characterized by its absolute value $`|Q|`$ and the phase $`\phi `$ which are traditionally represented as a complex quantity $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ (see, e.g., rev ). For the hexatic films the quantity is written as $`\mathrm{\Psi }=|Q|\mathrm{exp}(6i\phi )`$, and for the smectic-$`C`$ films the quantity is written as $`\mathrm{\Psi }=|Q|\mathrm{exp}(2i\phi )`$.

The angle $`\phi `$ should be included into the set of the macroscopic variables of the films. A convenient starting point of the consideration is the energy density (per unit area) $`\rho v^2/2+\epsilon `$, where $`\rho `$ is the $`2d`$ mass density, $`𝒗`$ is the film velocity, and $`\epsilon `$ is the internal energy density. The latter is a function of the mass density $`\rho `$, the specific entropy $`\sigma `$, and the angle $`\phi `$. In fact, $`\epsilon `$ depends on $`\phi `$, since any homogeneous shift of the angle $`\phi `$ does not touch the energy. For the hexatic films, leading terms of the energy expansion over gradients of $`\phi `$ are

$`\epsilon =\epsilon _0(\rho ,\sigma )+{\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}(\phi )^2,`$ (3)
where $`K`$ is the only (due to hexagonal symmetry) orientational elastic module of the film. For smectic-$`C`$ films one should introduce two orientational elastic modules, longitudinal and transversal with respect to the director $`𝒏`$, determining a specific direction in the film: $`Q_{\alpha \beta }\delta _{\alpha \beta }2n_\alpha n_\beta `$. However, the anisotropy in real smectic-$`C`$ films is weak because of the small tilt angle of the director. Moreover, fluctuations of the director lead to a renormalization of the modules, and on large scales there occurs an isotropization of a smectic-$`C`$ film NP79 . Therefore in this case we can use the same expression (3) for the elastic energy.

The complete dynamic equations for the freely suspended liquid crystalline films, valid on scales larger than their thickness, can be found in KL93 . We are going to treat a quasistationary motion of the disclination. At such motions hard degrees of freedom are not excited. By other words, we can accept incompressibility and neglect bending deformations which are suppressed by the presence of the surface tension in freely suspended films. In the same manner, for the quasistationary disclination motion the thermo-diffusive mode is not excited, what implies the isothermal condition. For freely suspended films such effects as substrate friction (relevant, say, for Langmuir films) are absent. Thus at treating the disclination motion we can consider the system of equations for the velocity $`𝒗`$ and the angle $`\phi `$ solely. The equations are formulated at the conditions $`\rho =\mathrm{const}`$, $`T=\mathrm{const}`$ (where $`T`$ is temperature) and $`𝒗=0`$.

The equation for the velocity follows from the momentum density $`𝒋=\rho 𝒗`$ conservation law

$`_tj_\alpha =_\beta \left[T_{\alpha \beta }\eta (_\alpha v_\beta +_\beta v_\alpha )\right],`$ (4)
where $`T_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the reactive (non-dissipative) stress tensor and $`\eta `$ is the $`2d`$ shear viscosity coefficient of the film. For the two-dimensional hexatics the reactive stress tensor is (see KL93 , chapter 6)

$`T_{\alpha \beta }=\rho v_\beta v_\alpha \varsigma \delta _{\alpha \beta }+K_\alpha \phi _\beta \phi {\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \gamma }_\gamma _\beta \phi {\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}ϵ_{\beta \gamma }_\gamma _\alpha \phi ,`$ (5)
where $`\varsigma =\epsilon \rho \epsilon /\rho `$ is the surface tension. Note that the ratio $`K\rho /\eta ^2`$ is a dimensionless parameter which can be estimated by substituting $`3d`$ quantities instead of $`2d`$ ones (since all the $`2d`$ quantities can be estimated as corresponding $`3d`$ quantities multiplied by the film thickness, and the latter drops from the ratio). For all known liquid crystals the ratio is $`10^3÷10^4`$ (see, e.g., gen ; chandra ; BC96 ; OP00 ), and can be, consequently, treated as a small parameter of the theory.

The second dynamic equation, the equation for the bond angle, is

$`_t\phi ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta v_\alpha _\alpha \phi +{\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma }}^2\phi ,`$ (6)
where $`\gamma `$ is the so-called $`2d`$ rotational viscosity coefficient. We did not find in the literature values of the coefficient for thin liquid crystalline films. For bulk liquid crystals (see, e.g., gen ; chandra ; BC96 ; OP00 ) the $`3d`$ rotational viscosity coefficient is usually few times larger than the $`3d`$ shear viscosity coefficient. Therefore one could expect $`\gamma >\eta `$. However, to span a wide range of possibilities below we treat $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma /\eta `$ as an arbitrary parameter.

If disclinations are present in the film, it is no longer possible to define a single-valued continuous bond-angle variable $`\phi `$. However, the order parameter is a well-defined function, which goes to zero at a disclination position. The gradient of $`\phi (t,𝒓)`$ is a single-valued function of $`𝒓`$ which is analytic everywhere except for an isolated point which is the position of the disclination. The phase acquires a certain finite increment at each turn around the disclination

$`{\displaystyle \text{d}r_\alpha _\alpha \phi }=2\pi s,`$ (7)
where the integration contour is a closed loop around the disclination position, going anticlockwise, and $`s`$ is a topological charge of the disclination. For hexatic ordering $`s=(1/6)n`$, and for nematic orientational order $`s=(1/2)n`$, where $`n`$ is an integer number. One can restrict oneself to the disclinations with the unitary charge $`n`$ (i.e. with $`s=\pm 1/6`$ for the hexatic films, $`s=\pm 1/2`$ for the smectic-$`C`$ films) only, since disclinations with larger $`|s|`$ possess a larger energy than the set of unitary disclinations with the same net topological charge, and thus the defects with larger charges are unstable with respect to dissociation to unitary ones. Therefore the disclinations with the charges $`|n|>1`$ do not play an essential role in the physics of the films gen ; chandra ; BC96 ; OP00 . To bring expressions, given below, into a compact form, we keep the notation $`s`$ for the topological charge.

The static bond angle is determined by the stationary condition $`\delta E/\delta \phi =0`$, where

$`E={\displaystyle \text{d}^2r\left(\frac{\rho }{2}v^2+\epsilon \right)}`$
is the energy of the film. For the energy density (3) the condition is reduced to the Laplace equation

$`^2\phi =0.`$ (8)
There is a symmetric solution $`\phi _0`$ for an isolated motionless disclination which satisfies Eqs. (7,8), which has the following gradient

$`_\alpha \phi _0=sϵ_{\alpha \beta }{\displaystyle \frac{r_\beta R_\beta }{(𝒓𝑹)^2}}.`$ (9)
Here $`𝑹`$ is a position of the disclination. If the origin of the reference system is placed to this point then one can write $`\phi _0=s\mathrm{arctan}(y/x)`$, where $`x`$ and $`y`$ are coordinates of the observation point $`𝒓`$. If some dynamic processes in the film occur, then $`\phi `$ varies in time and the distribution (9) is disturbed. It is perturbed also due to the presence of the bond angle distortion related to boundaries or other disclinations.

Below, we have in mind a case, when a system of a large number of disclinations (with an uncompensated topological charge) is created. For the $`3d`$ nematics it can be done rather easily OP00 ; gen ; chandra , since due to the intrinsic elastic anisotropy the energies of positively and negatively charged defects are different. We do not aware of experimental or theoretical studies of defect nucleation mechanisms in free standing smectic or hexatic films. Hopefully, a situation with a finite $`2d`$ density of defects can be realized for the films as well (for instance, the defects could appear even spontaneously as a mechanism to relieve frustrations in chiral smectic or hexatic films, i.e. analogously to the formation of the Abrikosov vortex lattice in superconductors KS01 ). Examining a motion of the disclination in this case, we investigate a vicinity of the disclination of the order of the inter-disclination distance. Then far from the disclination the bond angle $`\phi `$ can be written as a sum $`\text{const}+𝒖𝒓`$, where $`u`$ is much larger than the inverse inter-disclination distance (since the number of disclinations is large). Near the disclination position the bond angle $`\phi `$ can be approximated by the expression (9). Our main problem is to establish a general coordinate dependence of $`\phi `$ and $`𝒗`$, which, particularly, enables one to relate the bond gradient $`𝒖`$ and a velocity of the disclination.

## II Flow and angle field around a uniformly moving disclination

Here we proceed to the main subject of our consideration, which is a single disclination, which is driven by a large-scale inhomogeneity in the bond angle $`\phi `$. A disclination velocity is determined by an interplay of the hydrodynamic back-flow and by the own dynamics of the angle $`\phi `$. To find the velocity, one has to solve the system of equations (4,5,6) with the constraint (7), requiring a suitable asymptotic behavior. As we explained in the previous section, at large distances from the disclination, the angle $`\phi `$ is supposed to behave as $`\text{const}+𝒖𝒓`$. In addition, we are going to work in the reference system, where the film as a whole is at rest. That means, that the flow velocity, excited by the disclination, has to tend to zero far from the disclination.

Let us consider a situation, when the disclination moves with a constant velocity $`𝑽`$. In the case both the angle $`\phi `$ and the flow velocity are functions of $`𝒓𝑽t`$ (where $`𝑹=𝑽t`$ is the disclination position). Then the equation for the velocity (4) is written as

$`\rho (V_\beta v_\beta )_\beta v_\alpha +\eta ^2v_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta ^2\phi K_\alpha \phi ^2\phi +_\alpha \left[\varsigma {\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}(\phi )^2\right]=0.`$ (10)
One can omit the first (inertial) term in the left-hand side of (10), which is small because of the smallness of the parameter $`K\rho /\eta ^2`$. Then we obtain from Eqs. (4-5)

$`^2v_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta ^2\phi {\displaystyle \frac{K}{\eta }}_\alpha \phi ^2\phi +_\alpha \varpi =0,`$ (11)
where $`\varpi =\eta ^1[\varsigma (K/2)(\phi )^2]`$. The equation for the angle $`\phi `$, following from Eq. (6), at the same conditions is

$`^2\phi +{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{K}}V_\alpha _\alpha \phi ={\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{K}}v_\alpha _\alpha \phi {\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2K}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta .`$ (12)
We are looking for a solution, which is characterized by the following asymptotic behaviour at $`r\mathrm{}`$: the velocity $`𝒗`$ vanishes and $`\phi `$ tends to a constant vector $`𝒖`$. It is clear from the symmetry of the problem, that the gradient $`𝒖`$ of the bond angle is directed along the $`Y`$-axis, provided the velocity is directed along the $`X`$-axis. Therefore $`\phi uy`$ at $`r\mathrm{}`$. Our problem is to find a relation between the quantities $`V`$ and $`u`$, that is between the disclination velocity and the bond angle gradient far from the disclination. There are two different regions: large distances $`ru^1`$ and the region near the disclination $`ru^1`$. At large distances corrections to the leading behavior $`\phi uy`$ are small and the problem can be treated in the linear over these corrections approximation. In the region near the disclination $`\phi `$ is close to the static value (9) and the flow velocity $`𝒗`$ is close to the disclination velocity $`𝑽`$ (the special case when the ratio $`\gamma /\eta `$ is extremely small will be discussed in Subsection III.3). Those two regions are separately examined below. The relation between $`u`$ and $`V`$ can be found by matching the asymptotics at $`ru^1`$. As a result, one obtains

$`V={\displaystyle \frac{K}{\eta }}Cu,`$ (13)
where $`C`$ is a dimensionless factor depending on the dimensionless ratio $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma /\eta `$. This factor $`C`$ is of the order of unity if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$. We are interested in the asymptotic behavior of $`C`$ at small and large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

### II.1 Region near the disclination

Let us consider the region $`ru^1`$. Here one can write

$`\phi =\phi _0(𝒓𝑹)+\phi _1(𝒓𝑹),`$ (14)
where $`𝑹=𝑽t`$ is the disclination position, the angle $`\phi _0`$ corresponds to an equilibrium bond angle around an unmoving disclination, and $`\phi _1`$ is a small correction to $`\phi _0`$. The gradients of $`\phi _0`$ are determined by Eq. (9).

Linearizing the equations (11,12) in $`\phi _1`$, one obtains

$`\eta ^2v_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta ^2\phi _1K_\alpha \phi _0^2\phi _1+_\alpha \left[\varsigma {\displaystyle \frac{K}{2}}(\phi )^2\right]=0,`$ (15)
$`^2\phi _1{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{K}}v_\alpha _\alpha \phi _0+{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2K}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta ={\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{K}}V_\alpha _\alpha \phi _0.`$ (16)
Introducing a new variable $`\chi =(K/\eta )^2\phi _1`$ we rewrite Eqs. (15,16) as

$`^2v_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \chi _\alpha \phi _0\chi +_\alpha \varpi =0,`$ (17)
$`\chi \mathrm{\Gamma }v_\alpha _\alpha \phi _0+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta =\mathrm{\Gamma }V_\alpha _\alpha \phi _0,`$ (18)
where as above $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma /\eta `$ and $`\varpi =\eta ^1\left[\varsigma K/2(\phi )^2\right]`$. It follows from Eq. (17) and $`_\alpha v_\alpha =0`$ that $`^2\varpi =_\alpha \phi _0_\alpha \chi `$. A solution of the system (17-18) can be written as

$`v_\alpha =V_\alpha +ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \mathrm{\Omega },`$ (19)
where $`V_\alpha `$ is an obvious (due to Galilean invariance) forced solution and the stream function $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ describes a zero mode of the system (17-18). The system is homogeneous in $`r`$, and therefore $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a sum of contributions which are power-like functions of $`r`$.

Taking curl of Eq. (17) we obtain

$`^4\mathrm{\Omega }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}^2\chi ϵ_{\gamma \alpha }_\alpha \phi _0_\gamma \chi =0.`$ (20)
Substituting $`\chi `$ expressed in terms of $`𝒗`$ from Eq. (18) into Eq. (20), and using explicit expressions for derivatives of $`\phi _0`$, in the polar coordinates $`(r,\varphi )`$ we obtain

$`\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}\right)^4\mathrm{\Omega }+s\mathrm{\Gamma }\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{r^2}}_r^2\mathrm{\Omega }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}^2\mathrm{\Omega }s{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}_r^2\mathrm{\Omega }+s{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^3}}_r\mathrm{\Omega }\right)=0.`$ (21)
Solutions of Eq. (21) are superpositions of terms $`r^{\alpha +1}\mathrm{exp}(im\varphi )`$. Substituting this $`r,\varphi `$-dependence into Eq. (21), one obtains the equation for $`\alpha `$, which has the following roots

$`\alpha =\pm {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\left[2+2m^2s(1s)\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\pm \sqrt{\left(2+2m^2s(1s)\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\right)^24s\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}(m^21+s)4(m^21)^2}\right]^{1/2},`$ (22)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}=\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\mathrm{\Gamma }/4)^1`$. Hence $`0<\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}<4`$ for any $`\gamma `$ and $`\eta `$. Evidently, all the roots (22) are real. Let us emphasize that there is no solution $`\alpha =0`$ (corresponding to a logarithmic in $`r`$ behavior of the velocity) among the set (22). The first angular harmonic with $`|m|=1`$ is of particular interest because far from the disclination $`\phi _1=ur\mathrm{sin}\varphi `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=Vr\mathrm{sin}\varphi `$. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is small, there is a pair of small exponents

$`\alpha =\pm \alpha _1,\alpha _1=s\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}/2,`$ (23)
for $`m=\pm 1`$. Otherwise, for any other relevant $`m`$ (terms with $`m=0`$ are forbidden because of the symmetry), exponents (22) have no special smallness.

We established that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a superposition of the terms $`r^{\alpha +1}\mathrm{exp}(im\varphi )`$ with $`\alpha `$ determined by Eq. (22). Then the velocity can be found from Eq. (19). To avoid a singularity in the velocity at small $`r`$, one should keep contributions with positive $`\alpha `$ only. By other words, one can say, that the velocity field contains contributions with all powers $`\alpha `$ (22) but the factors at the terms with negative $`\alpha `$ are formed at $`ra`$ (where $`a`$ is the disclination core radius), and therefore the corresponding contributions to the velocity are negligible at $`ra`$ (this statement should be clarified and refined for small negative exponents $`\alpha _1`$ in the limit of small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, see below, Subsection III.3). We conclude, that the correction to $`𝑽`$ in the flow velocity $`𝒗`$, related to $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ in Eq. (19), is negligible at $`ra`$. Thus we come to the non-slipping condition for the disclination motion: the disclination velocity $`𝑽`$ coincides with the flow velocity $`𝒗`$ at the disclination position.

Next, to find $`\phi `$, one should solve the equation $`(K/\eta )^2\phi =\chi `$, where $`\chi `$ is determined from Eq. (18). Then, besides the part determined by the velocity, zero modes of the Laplacian could enter $`\phi _1`$. The most dangerous zero mode is $`Uy`$, since it produces a non-zero momentum flux (and associated to it the Magnus force)

$`{\displaystyle \text{d}r_\alpha ϵ_{\alpha \beta }T_{\beta \gamma }}KU,`$
to the disclination core. However, because of the condition $`\alpha 0`$, all the contributions to the velocity correspond to zero viscous momentum flux to the origin. Consequently, it is impossible to compensate the Magnus force by other terms. The above reasoning leads us to the conclusion that the factor $`U`$ (and therefore the Magnus force) must be zero. Thus, $`\phi _1`$ contains only terms, proportional to $`r^{\alpha +1}`$, with $`\alpha >0`$. This conclusion is related to the fact that for free standing liquid crystalline films any distortion of the bond angle unavoidably produces hydrodynamic back-flow motions (i.e. $`𝒗0`$). Unlike free standing films, for the liquid crystalline films on substrates (Langmuir films) hydrodynamic motions (back-flows) are strongly suppressed by the substrate, and a situation when the back-flow is irrelevant for the disclination motion could be realized.

### II.2 Remote Region

Let us consider the region $`ru^1`$, where we can write $`\phi =uy+\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ and linearize the system of equations (11,12) with respect to $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$. Then we get the system of linear equations for $`𝒗`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$:

$`^2v_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}\left(ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta ^2\stackrel{~}{\phi }2u_\alpha ^2\stackrel{~}{\phi }\right)+_\alpha \varpi =0,`$
$`(^2+2p_x)\stackrel{~}{\phi }+{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2K}}(ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta 2uv_y)=0,`$ (24)
where $`p=V\gamma /2K`$. Taking curl of the first equation and excluding the Laplacian, we obtain

$`ϵ_{\beta \alpha }_\beta v_\alpha ={\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}\left[\left(^2+2u_x\right)\stackrel{~}{\phi }+\mathrm{\Phi }\right],`$ (25)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is a harmonic function. In terms of the harmonic function $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ the system (24) is reduced to

$`\left[(1+\mathrm{\Gamma }/4)^4+2p^2_x\mathrm{\Gamma }u^2_x^2\right]\stackrel{~}{\phi }=(\mathrm{\Gamma }/2)u_x\mathrm{\Phi }.`$ (26)
The equation (26) can be written as

$`(^2+2k_1_x)(^22k_2_x)\stackrel{~}{\phi }=(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}/2)u_x\mathrm{\Phi },`$ (27)
$`k_{1,2}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2(1+\mathrm{\Gamma }/4)}}\left(\sqrt{p^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+\mathrm{\Gamma }/4)u^2}\pm p\right).`$ (28)
The quantities $`k_1`$ and $`k_2`$ have the meaning of characteristic wave vectors. We conclude from Eq. (27) that zero modes of the operator in the left hand side of the equation are proportional to

$`\mathrm{exp}(k_1rk_1x),\mathrm{exp}(k_2r+k_2x),`$
that is they are exponentially small everywhere, except for narrow angular regions near the $`X`$-axis. The behavior of the zero modes inside the regions is power-like in $`r`$. Besides, there is a contribution to $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ related to the harmonic function $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. It contains a part which decays as a power of $`r`$ (the leading term is $`r^1`$) at large $`ru^1`$. This solution is examined in more detail in Appendix A.1.

## III Different regimes governed by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$

A character of the velocity and the bond fields around the moving disclination is sensitive to the ratio of the rotational and the shear viscosity coefficients $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma /\eta `$. In this section we examine different cases, depending on the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ value.

### III.1 The case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$

We start to treat different regimes of mobility with the most likely case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ then the factor $`C`$ in Eq. (13) is of order unity and $`up`$. Then we find from Eqs. (28), that $`k_1,k_2u`$. It is a manifestation of the fact, that there is the unique characteristic scale in this case, which is $`u^1`$. Then one can estimate $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ by matching at $`ru^1`$ of the solutions in the regions near the disclination and far from it. We conclude, that it is a function of a dimensionless parameter $`ur`$; the function is of the order of unity, when its argument $`ur`$ is of the order of unity.

For large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ there remains the unique characteristic scale $`u^1`$ and, consequently, in this case still $`C1`$. To prove the statement, we treat first small distances $`ru^1`$. As we have shown in Subsection II.1, the corrections $`\phi _1`$ and $`\delta 𝒗`$, to $`\phi _0`$ and $`𝑽`$ respectively, are expanded into the series over the zero modes characterized by the exponents (22). Particularly, for $`m=1`$ we can write $`\phi _1uy(ur)^\alpha `$. In the large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ limit the exponents $`\alpha `$ (22) are regular since $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}4`$. From (22) we have $`\alpha _11`$, and for this case

$`\chi {\displaystyle \frac{K}{\eta r^2}}uy(ur)^{\alpha _1}.`$
Comparing equations (17) and (18), we conclude that at large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the term with $`\chi `$ in the second equation can be omitted and therefore the equation is a constraint imposed on the velocity. Then the first equation gives

$`|\delta v|{\displaystyle \frac{K}{\eta r}}uy(ur)^{\alpha _1}.`$
The disclination velocity can be found now from the relation $`V|\delta v|`$ at the scale $`u^1`$, that is $`p\mathrm{\Gamma }u`$, or $`C1`$. The complete analysis covers also the remote region. At the condition $`p\mathrm{\Gamma }u`$ both $`k_{1,2}u^1`$. Then using the procedure of Appendix A.1, one can prove that the solutions from two regions can be matched at $`ru^1`$, and thus there are no new characteristic scales, indeed. We also note that the rotational viscosity $`\gamma `$ is excluded from the hydrodynamic equations at large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Although this is not true inside the disclination core provided that one can employ hydrodynamics there (see Appendix A.4), boundary conditions for $`𝒗`$ and $`\phi `$ on the core reveal no dramatic behavior. Consequently, it is the shear viscosity alone that determines the disclination mobility, which means that $`C1`$.

Thus we can say that the limit $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{}`$ is trivial: no any additional feature appears in comparison with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$. However, it is not the case for small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, since for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ it turns out that $`up`$. We study this case in the next Subsection.

### III.2 Small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$

Here, we consider the case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$. This limit is attained at anomalously large $`\eta `$, so that $`K\rho /\eta ^2`$ should be still treated as the smallest dimensionless parameter. That justifies use of the same equations (11,12), as in the previous subsections.

At $`ru^1`$ the analysis of Subsection II.1 is correct. As we noted, contributions to $`𝒗`$ and $`\phi _1`$, related to the modes with negative $`\alpha `$, should not be taken into account there. At $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ the leading role is played by the mode with the smallest exponent $`(\alpha _1=s\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}/2)`$, because the presence of modes with positive exponents $`\alpha 1`$ would contradict the condition of smooth matching at $`ru^1`$. Strictly speaking, neglecting a small negative exponent $`\alpha _1`$ is correct at the condition $`\alpha _1|\mathrm{ln}(ua)|1`$, where $`a`$ is the core radius of the disclination. In this subsection we consider just this case. The opposite case, that we will term it as extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ limit, is analyzed in Subsection III.3. At $`ru^1`$ we can write

$`\phi _1uy(ur)^{\alpha _1},Vv_x\alpha _1u{\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma }}(ur)^{\alpha _1},`$ (29)
where the coefficient at $`y(ur)^{\alpha _1}`$ is determined from matching at $`ru^1`$ where $`\phi 1/r`$. Analogous matching $`Vv_xV`$ at $`ru^1`$ gives $`V\alpha _1uK/\gamma `$. The relation can be rewritten as $`p\alpha _1uu`$. Therefore we conclude $`C1/\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$.

The relation $`p\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}u`$ leads to $`k_{1,2}pu`$, as follows from Eq. (28). By other words, a new scale $`p^1`$ (different from $`u^1`$) appears in the problem. Therefore a detailed investigation of the far region $`ru^1`$ is needed, to establish an $`𝒓`$-dependence of the bond angle $`\phi `$ and the velocity field $`𝒗`$ there. This investigation can be based on the equations, formulated in Subsection II.2, which are correct irrespective to the value of $`pr`$.

Explicit expressions, describing the velocity and the angle, are presented in Appendix A.1. They contain three dimensionless functions $`\zeta _1(/u)`$, $`c_1(/u)`$ and $`c_2(/u)`$. Really, at $`ur1`$ one can keep only zero terms of the expansions of these functions into the Taylor series. Among these three coefficients only one is independent, see Eq. (46). Therefore the general solution could be expressed with a single free parameter, $`\zeta \zeta _1(0)`$. The procedure corresponds to the following construction of solutions of the equations of motion (24) in the region $`ur1`$. We have to match the solutions in the outer (far from the disclination) and in the inner (close to the disclination) regions at $`ur1`$. Technically the matching is equivalent to the appropriate boundary conditions for the outer problem at $`ur1`$, and these boundary conditions can be replaced formally by the local source terms in the equations, acting at $`ur1`$. One can expand these sources in the standard multipolar series. Thus we come to the expansion over the gradients of $`\delta `$-function. The gradients scale as $`u`$, and therefore $`\zeta `$, $`c_1`$, $`c_2`$ are dimensionless functions of the dimensionless ratio $`/u`$.

To establish asymptotic behavior of the angle $`\phi `$ and of the velocity $`𝒗`$, let us first consider the region $`u^1rp^1`$. Then we derive from Eqs. (40,41,46)

$`v_x={\displaystyle \frac{K(2s\zeta )}{\gamma u}}k_1k_2\mathrm{ln}(pr).`$ (30)
Here we presented only the leading logarithmic contribution of the zero harmonic in $`v_x`$. Matching the velocity derivatives, determined by Eqs. (29,30), at $`ru^1`$, we find $`\zeta 1`$ (we imply $`s1`$). Using the expressions (38,41,46), we obtain for the region $`u^1rp^1`$

$`\phi =\phi _0+uy+spy\mathrm{ln}(pr).`$ (31)
We see, that there is only a small correction to the simple expression $`\phi _0+uy`$ there, since $`pu`$.

In the region $`pr1`$, the expressions for the angle $`\phi `$ and the velocity $`𝒗`$ are more complicated. Using the formulas (38,39,40,41), one obtains

$`_x\phi =s\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}}\left[c_1\sqrt{k_1}\mathrm{exp}(k_1rk_1x)+c_2\sqrt{k_2}\mathrm{exp}(k_2r+k_2x)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta }{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}},`$ (32)
$`_y\phi =u2s\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}}\left[c_1\sqrt{k_1}\mathrm{exp}(k_1rk_1x)c_2\sqrt{k_2}\mathrm{exp}(k_2r+k_2x)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^{1/2}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta }{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{x}{r^2}},`$ (33)
$`v_y={\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma u}}\left\{2s\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}}\left[c_1k_2\sqrt{k_1}\mathrm{exp}(k_1rk_1x)c_2k_1\sqrt{k_2}\mathrm{exp}(k_2r+k_2x)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^{3/2}}}p\zeta {\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}}\right\},`$ (34)
$`v_x={\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma u}}\left\{\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}}s\mathrm{\Gamma }u^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{c_1}{\sqrt{k_1r}}}\mathrm{exp}(k_1rk_1x)+{\displaystyle \frac{c_2}{\sqrt{k_2r}}}\mathrm{exp}(k_2r+k_2x)\right]+p\zeta {\displaystyle \frac{x}{r^2}}\right\},`$ (35)
where $`c_11`$ and $`c_21`$ are determined by Eq. (46) (we omitted the argument $`0`$ to simplify the notations). The expressions (32,33,34,35) contain two types of terms: isotropic and anisotropic ones. The anisotropic contributions are essential only in the narrow angular regions near the $`X`$-axis, where they dominate. It is worth to note the very non-trivial structure of the flow, where the isotropic flux to the origin is compensated due to the anisotropic terms.

The expressions found in this subsection generalize the famous Lamb solution for the hydrodynamic flow around a hard cylinder, (see, e.g., BA70 ; Lamb ; LL8 ) where far from the cylinder the velocity field is exponentially small everywhere except in the wake of the corps, i.e. in the very narrow angular sector (“tail”). Disclination motion in liquid crystalline films can be regarded as motion of a cylinder framed by a “soft” (i.e. deformable) orientational field $`\phi `$. Due to the additional (with respect to the classical Lamb problem) degree of freedom, our solution has two tails around the moving disclination: wake, beyond the disclination, and precursor in front of it. In fact, both degrees of freedom (the flow velocity and the bond angle) are relevant.

### III.3 Extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$

At the above analysis we implied the condition $`\alpha _1|\mathrm{ln}(ua)|1`$ (remind that $`\alpha _1=s\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}/2`$ at small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$), imposing a restriction from below to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ at a given $`u`$. If $`\alpha _1|\mathrm{ln}(ua)|1`$, then the terms with both $`\alpha =\pm \alpha _1`$, determined by Eq. (23), should be taken into account near the disclination, that leads to a logarithmic behavior of the correction $`\phi _1`$ to $`\phi _0`$ there:

$`\phi _1uy\mathrm{ln}(r/a)|\mathrm{ln}(au)|^1,`$ (36)
instead of Eq. (29). Matching the derivatives of expressions (31,36) at $`ru^1`$ gives $`pu|\mathrm{ln}(au)|^1`$. By other words, $`C[\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{ln}(au)]^1`$. This case corresponds formally to the limit $`\eta \mathrm{}`$ in our equations, when one can drop the back-flow hydrodynamic velocity in the equation for the bond angle. The situation was examined in the works BP88 ; PR90 ; RK91 ; DE96 . We present a simple analysis of the case in Appendix A.2. Note also that, really, there is no crossover at $`ru^1`$ in the bond angle behavior in this situation.

Let us clarify the question, concerning the Magnus force in this case. In accordance with Eq. (36) the reactive momentum flux to the disclination core is

$`{\displaystyle \text{d}r_\alpha ϵ_{\alpha \beta }T_{\beta \gamma }}Ku\mathrm{ln}(r/a)|\mathrm{ln}(au)|^1.`$
Thus, the flux is $`r`$-dependent, tending to zero at $`ra`$. This reactive momentum flux is compensated by the viscous momentum flux, (related to derivatives the flow velocity $`𝒗`$), which is non-zero in this case because of the logarithmic in $`r`$ behaviour of the flow velocity near the disclination. The flow velocity can be found from Eqs. (15,36), it behaves as

$`v_\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{Ku}{\eta |\mathrm{ln}(au)|}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta [y\mathrm{ln}^2(r/a)],`$
what is a generalization of the Stokes-Lamb solution BA70 ; Lamb . However unlike the Lamb problem (a hard cylinder moving in a viscous liquid), in our case $`|𝑽𝒗(r=a)|V`$, i.e. we have a slipping on the core of the moving disclination. This slipping seems natural in the limit of extremely small values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, corresponding to the limit $`\eta \mathrm{}`$, that is to a strongly suppressed hydrodynamic flow. Physically, the property means that the disclination can not be understood as a hard impenetrable object in the case. It is worth noting also that found above logarithmic behavior looks similar as a general feature of the two-dimensional hydrodynamic motion, which comes from the well known fact (see e.g., BA70 ; Lamb ; LL8 ) that for two-dimensional laminar flow even for a small Reynolds number one cannot neglect nonlinear terms, which become relevant for large enough distances. However, in our case these non-linear terms do not come from the convective hydrodynamic nonlinearity, they come from the nonlinear over $`\phi `$ terms in the stress tensor (4).

An explicit expression for $`\phi `$ and its asymptotics, corresponding to the considered case, are found in Appendix A.2. An expression for the flow velocity field, excited by the disclination motion, is derived in Appendix A.3.

## IV Conclusion

Let us sum up the results of our paper. To understand physics, underlying the freely suspended film dynamics, we studied the ground case, namely, a single disclination motion in a thin hexatic (or smectic-$`C`$) film, driven by a inhomogeneity in the bond (or director) angle. We investigated the uniform motion (i.e. one with a constant velocity). For this case we derived and solved equations of motion and found bond angle and hydrodynamic velocity distributions around the disclination. It allows us to relate the velocity of the disclination $`V`$ to the bond angle gradient $`u=|\phi |`$ in the region far from the disclination. It is in fact the reason, why so much efforts are needed: the full set of the equations should be solved everywhere, not locally only. We established the proportionality coefficient $`C`$ (see Eq. (13)) in this non-local relationship which has a meaning of the effective mobility coefficient. The coefficient $`C`$ depends on the dimensionless ratio $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of rotational $`\gamma `$ and shear viscosity $`\eta `$ coefficients.

There is little experimental knowledge as far as the values of the coefficients $`\gamma `$ and $`\eta `$ in hexatic and smectic-$`C`$ films are concerned. It is believed generally that the corresponding values in a film (normalized by its thickness) and in a bulk material are not very different BC96 ; OP00 , and in this case we are in the regime of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$, when the coefficient $`C`$ is of the order of unity. However $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ case is not excluded from the both theoretical and material science points of view. We found for small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ case the coefficient $`C1/\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$. We established a highly non-trivial behaviour of the flow velocity and of the bond angle, which is power-like in $`r`$ near the disclination and extremely anisotropic far from it. And only for the case of extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1/\mathrm{ln}^2(ua)`$ (where $`a`$ is the disclination core radius), we found a logarithmic behavior $`C[\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{ln}(ua)]^1`$. The main message of our study is that the hydrodynamic motion (that is the back-flow), unavoidably accompanying any defect motion in liquid crystals, plays a significant role in the disclination mobility. Experimental evidence (see, e.g., the recent publication AT00 ) shows that it is indeed the case.

Our consideration can be applied to the motion of a disclination pair with opposite signs. In this case the role by the scale $`u^1`$ is played by the distance $`R`$ between the disclinations. Then we find in accordance with Eq. (13) that $`_tRR^1`$ without a logarithm (provided the twist viscosity coefficient $`\gamma `$ is not anomalously small, see Subsection III.3 for the quantitative criterion). This conclusion is confirmed by results of numerical simulations for $`2d`$ nematics FU98 ; DO00 ; DO01 ; TD02 . The authors of the works consider the equations of motion in terms of the tensor order parameter, consistently taking into account the coupling between the disclination motion and the hydrodynamic flow. They computed dynamics of the disclination pair annihilation and found that the distance $`R`$ between the disclinations scales with time $`t`$ as $`t^{1/2}`$, without logarithmic corrections (as it follows from our theoretical consideration for any (excepting extremely small) value of the parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Unfortunately we did not find in the publications DO00 ; DO01 ; TD02  the magnitudes of the the shear viscosity which was used in the simulations. Lacking sufficient data on the values of $`\gamma `$ and $`\eta `$ we can at present discuss only the general features of the disclination dynamics. For instance the authors TD02  found numerically in one-constant approximation the asymmetry of the disclination dynamics with respect to the sign of the topological charge ($`s=\pm 1/2`$). In our approach the asymmetry naturally appears from nonlinear terms in the stress tensor (5) and from the first term in the right-hand side of Eq. (6) responsible for the different coupling of orientational and hydrodynamic flow patterns for positive and negative disclinations. This results in the fact that smaller positive exponents in Eq. (22) (corresponding to the minus in the brackets) for each $`m`$ are larger if $`s=1/2`$ than those for $`s=1/2`$. Thus, the disclination with $`s=1/2`$ exerts a stronger influence on the flow velocity, the qualitative conclusion that was arrived in TD02 .

Although the theory, presented in the paper, is valid for free standing hexatic or smectic-$`C`$ liquid crystalline films, the general scheme can be applied to Langmuir films, that is for the liquid crystalline films on solid or liquid substrates. Since the Langmuir film is arranged on the substrate surface, then any its hydrodynamic motion is accompanied by the substrate motion. Therefore for solid substrates a situation, when the hydrodynamic back-flow is irrelevant for the disclination dynamics, could be realistic. In Subsection III.3 (see also Appendix A.2) we examine this limit, and reproduce the results of the works RK91 ; BP88 ; PR90 ; DE96 , where the hydrodynamic back-flow was neglected from the very beginning. As it concerns to the Langmuir films on a liquid substrate, this case requires a special investigation, however the approach and main ideas of our paper could be useful as well.

Our results can be tested directly by comparing with experimental data for smectic-$`C`$ films. The hexatic order parameter, which has sixfold local symmetry is not coupled to the light in any simple way (and therefore ideal hexatic disclinations are hardly observed in optics). However it is possible to observe the core splitting of the disclinations in tilted hexatic smectic films DP86 . Indeed, due to discontinuity the tilt direction (which is locked to the bond direction) one can observe hexatic order and hexatic disclinations indirectly. The second possibility of checking our theoretical results is the classical light-scattering (where in typical experiments wave vectors are $`q=10^2÷10^4cm^1`$, and the frequency is $`\omega 10^8s^1`$). For a reasonably thick film the power spectrum of light scattering can have some additional structure that reveals the disclination properties (e.g. defects are thought to be relevant to the very low-frequency noise observed in thin films). Such kind of experimental studies are highly desirable.

###### Acknowledgements.

The research described in this publication was made possible in part by RFFR Grant 00-02-17785 and INTAS Grant 30-234. SVM thanks the support of this work by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Grant KO 1391/4. Fruitful discussions with V. E. Zakharov, E. A. Kuznetzov, G. E. Volovik, and N. B. Kopnin are gratefully acknowledged. We thank as well E. B. Sonin for sending us reprint of his paper SO97 .

## Appendix A

Here we present some technical details, concerning the velocity and the bond angle fields around the disclination. The case of small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is mostly treated, which is especially rich from the point of view of the space structure of the fields.

### A.1 Distances far from the disclination

Here we derive some results for the far from the disclination region which are afterwards applied to the case of small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ considered in Subsection III.2.

Let us examine the harmonic function $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ in Eqs. (25). Since the function is analytic in the region $`r>u^1`$, it can be expanded over derivatives of $`\mathrm{ln}r`$ there. Next, due to the symmetry of the problem, $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ should be antisymmetric in $`y`$. Therefore at least one derivative $`_y`$ should be present in each term of the expansion, that is

$`\mathrm{\Phi }=u\widehat{\zeta }_1_y\mathrm{ln}r,`$ (37)
where $`\widehat{\zeta }_1=\zeta _1(/u)`$, and $`\zeta _1(z)`$ is a series of $`𝒛`$, converging in a circle with radius of the order of unity. The expansion coefficients in the series $`\zeta _1(/u)`$ are determined by matching at $`ru^1`$ with the inner problem.

Because of the symmetry, the angle $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ can be represented in the following form:

$`_x\stackrel{~}{\phi }=_yB,_y\stackrel{~}{\phi }=(H+_xB),^2B+_xH=0.`$ (38)
The latter equation is the condition $`ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha _\beta \stackrel{~}{\phi }=0`$. Note that $`^2\stackrel{~}{\phi }=_yH`$. In the far from the disclination region we can use Eqs. (24,25). The incompressibility condition $`_\alpha v_\alpha =0`$ must be taken into account as well. Then one obtains expressions for the velocity in terms of $`B`$ and $`H`$:

$`\mathrm{curl}𝒗={\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}_y\left[H+2uB+u\widehat{\zeta }_1\mathrm{ln}(pr)\right],`$
$`v_y={\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma u}}_y\left\{H+2pB+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}\left[H+2uB+u\widehat{\zeta }_1\mathrm{ln}(pr)\right]\right\},`$ (39)
$`v_x={\displaystyle \frac{K}{\gamma u}}\left\{_x\left\{H+2pB+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}\left[H+2uB+u\widehat{\zeta }_1\mathrm{ln}(pr)\right]\right\}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }u}{2}}\left[H+2uB+u\widehat{\zeta }_1\mathrm{ln}(pr)\right]\right\},`$ (40)
Solutions of Eq. (26) imply:

$`B=s\left[\widehat{c}_1K_0(k_1r)e^{k_1x}+\widehat{c}_2K_0(k_2r)e^{k_2x}\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\widehat{\zeta }_1\mathrm{ln}(pr),`$
$`H=2s\left[k_1\widehat{c}_1K_0(k_1r)e^{k_1x}k_2\widehat{c}_2K_0(k_2r)e^{k_2x}\right].`$ (41)
Here the particular representation (37) is used and an arbitrary function of $`y`$ which can contribute to $`H`$ is chosen to be zero because $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }0`$ (and hence $`H0`$) as $`r\mathrm{}`$. Above $`\widehat{c}_1`$ and $`\widehat{c}_2`$ are dimensionless differential operators which can be represented as Taylor series over $`/u`$, i.e. $`c_1(/u)`$ and $`c_2(/u)`$. These functions must scale with $`u`$ since the functions have to be found from the matching at $`ru^1`$.

Additionally, there are two conditions on the variables in the region $`ur1`$. First, the correct circulation around the origin leads to the effective $`\delta `$-functional term in Eq. (38):

$`^2B+_xH=2\pi s\delta (𝒓).`$ (42)
The second condition is the absence of the flux to the origin:

$`{\displaystyle \text{d}\varphi v_r(r,\varphi )}=0.`$ (43)
The relations (42,43) lead to the conditions

$`c_1(0)+c_2(0)+\zeta _1(0)/2s=1,`$ (44)
$`\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}\right)\left[k_1c_1(0)k_2c_2(0)\right]\left(p+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }u}{4}}\right)\left[c_1(0)+c_2(0)+\zeta _1(0)/2s\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }u}{8s}}\zeta _1(0)=0.`$ (45)
At small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the solution of the equations (44,45) is

$`\zeta _1(0)=\zeta ,c_1(0)={\displaystyle \frac{k_1\zeta k_2/2s}{k_1+k_2}},c_2(0)={\displaystyle \frac{k_2\zeta k_1/2s}{k_1+k_2}}.`$ (46)
We also assumed that $`\zeta 1`$, which is justified in Subsection III.2.

### A.2 Suppressed Flow

Here we demonstrate, for convenience of references, how is it possible to find the disclination velocity $`V`$ provided the hydrodynamic velocity $`𝒗`$ is negligible (say, due to a substrate friction). We reproduce the results of the works BP88 ; PR90 ; RK91 ; DE96 .

In the absence of the hydrodynamic flow the equation for the angle $`\phi `$ is purely diffusive:

$`\gamma _t\phi =K^2\phi ,`$ (47)
as follows from Eq. (6) at $`𝒗=0`$. We assume that $`\phi uy`$ if $`r\mathrm{}`$. The disclination motion is forced by the “external field” $`u`$. Next, we are looking for a solution $`\phi (t,x,y)=\phi (xVt,y)`$. Then we get from Eq. (47)

$`2p_x\phi +^2\phi =0,\mathrm{where}2p=\gamma V/K.`$ (48)
Below we consider a solution corresponding to a single disclination with the circulation

$`{\displaystyle \text{d}𝒓\phi }=2\pi s,`$ (49)
where the integral is taken along a contour, surrounding the disclination in the anticlockwise direction. The quantity $`s`$ in Eq. (49) is an arbitrary parameter (which is equal to $`\pm 1/6`$ for hexatics and $`\pm 1/2`$ for nematics). For a suitable solution of Eq. (48), corresponding to Eq. (49), we have

$`_x\phi =_y{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}^2q}{2\pi }\frac{1}{q^22ipq_x}\mathrm{exp}(i𝒒𝒓)}=s\mathrm{exp}(px)_yK_0(pr).`$ (50)
This derivative tends to zero at $`r\mathrm{}`$ as it should be.

The expression (50) does not determine $`\phi `$ itself unambiguously, since $`_x(uy)=0`$ and therefore one can add an arbitrary function $`uy`$ to a solution and it gives a new solution then. Note that $`uy`$ is a zero mode of the equation (48). Thus the solution can be written as

$`\phi =\varphi +uy,\varphi (x^{},y)=s{\displaystyle _x^{}^{\mathrm{}}}dx\mathrm{exp}(px)_yK_0(pr),`$ (51)
where $`\varphi `$ tends to zero if $`r\mathrm{}`$. To relate $`u`$ in Eq. (51) and $`p`$, one must know boundary conditions at $`r0`$, really, at $`ra`$, where $`a`$ is the core radius. At small $`r`$ $`\phi `$ can be written as a series $`\phi =\phi _0+\phi _1+\mathrm{}`$, where $`\phi _0`$ corresponds to an motionless disclination, $`\phi _1`$ is the first correction to $`\phi _0`$, related to its motion. Matching with the inner problem gives

$`\phi _1(a)p,`$ (52)
since the solution for the order parameter inside the core is an analytical function of $`r/a`$, and the expansion over $`p`$ is a regular expansion over $`pa`$.

Expanding Eq. (50) over $`p`$ we get at $`pr1`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s}}_x\phi {\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{pxy}{r^2}}.`$
Therefore in accordance with Eq. (51) one gets with the logarithmic accuracy

$`\phi _1=spy\mathrm{ln}(pr)+uy.`$ (53)
Using now the boundary condition (52) one gets with the same logarithmic accuracy

$`u=sp\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{pa}}\right).`$ (54)
It can be rewritten as

$`V={\displaystyle \frac{2Ku}{s\gamma \mathrm{ln}(1/pa)}}.`$ (55)
The same answer (55) can be found from the energy dissipation balance. First of all, we can find the energy $`E`$ corresponding to the solution (51):

$`E={\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^2r\frac{K}{2}(\phi )^2}=K{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^2r\left[\frac{1}{2}u^2+\frac{1}{2}(\varphi )^2+u_y\varphi \right]}.`$ (56)
Here the first term is the energy of the external field and the second term is the energy of the disclination itself. Obviously, both the terms are independent of time, and only the last cross term depends on the time. For $`|xVt|p^1`$

$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}dy_y\varphi =\{\begin{array}{ccc}0& \mathrm{if}& x>Vt,\\ 2\pi s& \mathrm{if}& x<Vt.\end{array}`$ (59)
Therefore we obtain from Eq. (56)

$`_tE=2s\pi KuV,`$ (60)
On the other hand, we can use the equation (47) to obtain

$`_tE={\displaystyle \frac{K^2}{\gamma }}{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^2r(^2\phi )^2}.`$ (61)
Substituting here $`^2\phi `$ by $`2p_x\phi `$ in accordance with Eq. (48) we get

$`_tE=\gamma V^2{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^2r(_x\phi )^2}.`$
The main logarithmic contribution to the integral comes from the region $`a<r<p^1`$ where $`_x\phi sy/r^2`$. Thus we obtain

$`_tE=\pi s^2\gamma V^2\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{pa}}\right).`$ (62)
Comparing the expression with Eq. (60) we find the same answer (55).

### A.3 Extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$

Here we consider the flow velocity, excited by the moving disclination in the case of the extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The velocity is zero in the zero in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ approximation (the case is considered in Appendix A.2), therefore we examine the next, first, approximation in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. We use the same formalism and the same designations as in Appendix A.1.

In accordance with Appendix A.1 solutions of the complete set of nonlinear stationary equations can be represented in the following form:

$`_x\stackrel{~}{\phi }=_yB,_y\stackrel{~}{\phi }=(H+_xB),`$ (63)
$`\mathrm{curl}𝒗={\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right],`$ (64)
$`v_x={\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}_y^2\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right],`$ (65)
$`v_y={\displaystyle \frac{K}{2\eta }}_x^2\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right],`$ (66)
where $`B`$, $`H`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ are to be found from the equations

$`_yH+2p_yB+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}^2(^22u_x)\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right]=`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{2}}\left(_y^2\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right]_yB+_x^2\left[_yH+2u_yB+2us_y\mathrm{ln}r+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}\right](_xB+H)\right),`$ (67)
$`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}=2^2[(_xB+H)_x_yH+_yB_y^2H],`$ (68)
$`^2B+_xH=2\pi s\delta (𝒓).`$ (69)
If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is extremely small, $`s^2\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{ln}^2(ua)1`$, the solution of Eqs. (67-69) can be continued to the vicinity of the core. In the main approximation the solution for $`\phi `$ coincides with the solution for the angle $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }_L`$ in the absence of the liquid motion. This case, examined in RK91 ; BP88 ; PR90 ; DE96 , is described in Appendix A.2. The functions $`B_L`$ and $`H_L`$, corresponding to $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }_L`$, are given by

$`2pB_L=H_L=2spK_0(pr)\mathrm{exp}(px).`$ (70)
This solution results in

$`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}=2s^2p{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}}\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{min}\{r,p^1\}}{a}}\right).`$ (71)
Then, after neglecting the nonlinear right-hand side of Eq. (67), we can find

$`H(𝒓)={\displaystyle \frac{4\pi s}{1+\mathrm{\Gamma }/4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\text{d}^2q}{(2\pi )^2}\mathrm{exp}(i𝒒𝒓)\frac{pq^2(s\mathrm{\Gamma }p/4)(q^2+2iuq_x)\mathrm{ln}\left(\mathrm{min}\{(qa)^1,(pa)^1\}\right)}{(q^22ik_1q_x)(q^2+2ik_2q_x)}}.`$ (72)
$`B(𝒓)`$ can be found in the similar way. Using $`B`$ and $`H`$, from Eqs. (65,66) we calculate such flow velocity $`𝒗(𝒓)`$ that vanishes at infinity.

For $`rp^1`$ this solution coincides with expressions (41,44,45) with

$`\zeta _1(0)=2s+{\displaystyle \frac{2s^2p}{u}}\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{pa}}\right).`$
For $`pr1`$ the expression (72) is reduced to (70) and this region produces the main contribution to $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{}`$ (71). The following expressions are obtained in the inner region ($`pr1`$) from the solution (63-72):

$`\phi _1=\left(usp\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{pa}}\right)y+spy\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{a}},`$ (73)
$`\mathrm{curl}𝒗={\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2p}{\eta }}\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{y}{r^2}}.`$ (74)
A relation between $`p`$ and $`u`$ is fixed by the condition (52), leading to $`u=sp\mathrm{ln}[1/(pa)]`$, which is equivalent to Eq. (55). The flow velocity at $`pr1`$ and $`\mathrm{ln}(r/a)1`$ is

$`v_\alpha ={\displaystyle \frac{s^2\mathrm{\Gamma }}{8}}Vϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \left[y\mathrm{ln}^2(r/a)\right],`$ (75)
which corresponds to the stream function

$`\mathrm{\Omega }=Vy{\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2p}{4\eta }}y\mathrm{ln}^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{a}}\right).`$ (76)
The expansion over $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ near the disclination is regular and can be derived from Eqs. (17,18) with the condition $`\phi _1(a)p`$ : $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }_L+uy`$ is the zero term of the series for $`\phi `$, and expression (76) represents the zero and the first terms for $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

Note that in accordance with Eq. (75) in the limit $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0`$ the flow velocity tends to zero near the disclination core, $`v(a)/V=O(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$, despite the fact that the disclination itself moves with the finite velocity $`V`$, thus there is a slipping on the disclination core in this limit.

### A.4 Solution with the complete order parameter

Here we consider the dynamic equations for the coupled velocity field $`𝒗`$ and the complete order parameter $`\mathrm{\Psi }=Q\mathrm{exp}(i\phi /|s|)`$ of the hexatic or smectic-$`C`$ films. These equations are needed to examine the velocity field in a vicinity of the disclination core. Below, we work in the framework of the mean field theory.

Formally the equations can be derived, using the Poisson brackets method KL93 ; DV80 . The energy, associated with the order parameter, in the mean field approximation is

$`_\mathrm{\Psi }={\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \text{d}^2r\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2+\frac{1}{2a_s^2}\left(1|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2\right)^2\right)},`$
its density passes to the $`K`$-contribution in Eq. (3) on large scales $`ra_s`$. The only non-trivial Poisson bracket, which has to be added to the standard expressions (see KL93 ; DV80 ), is gur

$`\{j_\alpha (r_1),\mathrm{\Psi }(r_2)\}=_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }\delta (r_1r_2)+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2|s|}}\mathrm{\Psi }(r_2)ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \delta (r_1r_2).`$
The expression for the energy and the Poisson bracket is correct for hexatics, and turns to the above expressions at large scales for the smectics-$`C`$ (due to fluctuations). Then the dynamic equations read:

$`\rho _tv_\alpha +\rho v_\beta _\beta v_\alpha `$ $`=\eta ^2v_\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{s^2K}{2}}\left\{_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }^{}\left(^2\mathrm{\Psi }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a_s^2}}\mathrm{\Psi }\left(1|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2\right)\right)+_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }\left(^2\mathrm{\Psi }^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a_s^2}}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\left(1|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2\right)\right)\right\}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i|s|K}{4}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \left\{\mathrm{\Psi }^{}^2\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^2\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\right\}+_\alpha \stackrel{~}{\varsigma },`$
$`_t\mathrm{\Psi }+v_\alpha _\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2|s|}}\mathrm{\Psi }ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2}{2\gamma _s}}\left(^2\mathrm{\Psi }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a_s^2}}\mathrm{\Psi }\left(1|\mathrm{\Psi }|^2\right)\right),`$ (77)
the relation $`\gamma _s=s^2\gamma /2`$ ensures the reduction to Eq. (6) in the limit $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|=1`$, and the kinetic coefficients are believed to be independent of $`Q`$ (otherwise one can assume, for example, the dependence $`\gamma _s=s^2\gamma |\mathrm{\Psi }|^2/2`$). The slow dynamics of a $`2d`$ liquid crystalline system with disclinations can be described by Eqs. (77) with the additional condition of incompressibility $`𝒗=0`$ which enables to exclude the passive variable $`\stackrel{~}{\varsigma }`$.

If the distance from the disclination point to another disclination is much larger than $`a_s`$, i.e. the perturbation to the static solution $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0=Q_0\mathrm{exp}(i\phi _0/|s|)`$ for the single defect is small, we can linearize Eqs. (77) with respect to the perturbation expressed in terms of corrections $`Q_1`$ and $`\phi _1`$ to $`Q_0`$ and $`\phi _0`$ respectively:

$`\eta ^2v_\alpha 2\gamma _s\left\{_\alpha Q_0(v_\beta V_\beta )_\beta Q_0+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s^2}}Q_0^2_\alpha \phi _0\left((v_\beta V_\beta )_\beta \phi _0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{\beta \gamma }_\beta v_\gamma \right)\right\}`$ (78)
$`+2\gamma _s{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2s^2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\beta \left[Q_0^2\left((v_\mu V_\mu )_\mu \phi _0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{\mu \nu }_\mu v_\nu \right)\right]+_\alpha \stackrel{~}{\varsigma }=0,`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2}{2\gamma _s}}\left(^2Q_1{\displaystyle \frac{(\phi _0)^2}{s^2}}Q_1{\displaystyle \frac{2_\alpha \phi _1_\alpha \phi _0}{s^2}}Q_0+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a_s^2}}\left(13Q_0^2\right)Q_1\right)=(v_\beta V_\beta )_\beta Q_0,`$ (79)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{Ks^2}{2\gamma _s}}\left(^2\phi _1+2Q_0^1(_\alpha Q_1_\alpha \phi _0+_\alpha Q_0_\alpha \phi _1)\right)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{\alpha \beta }_\alpha v_\beta +(v_\beta V_\beta )_\beta \phi _0.`$ (80)
In terms of dimensionless quantities $`L=\eta \mathrm{\Omega }/K`$, $`R=r/a_s`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2\gamma _s/(s^2\eta )`$, Eq. (78) takes the following form (as previously, we consider a disclination with the unitary topological charge $`|s|`$ or $`|s|`$):

$`_R^4L+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}\left\{4s^2{\displaystyle \frac{(_RQ_0)^2}{R^2}}_\varphi ^2L+\left(_R^2+{\displaystyle \frac{2s}{R}}_R\right)\left(Q_0^2\left(_R^2{\displaystyle \frac{2s}{R}}_R\right)L\right)\right\}=0,`$ (81)
$`Q_0`$ is found from

$`\left(_R^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}_R{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R^2}}\right)Q_0+Q_0(1Q_0^2)=0,Q_0(0)=0,Q_0(\mathrm{})=1.`$
If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$, as it follows from Eq. (81), a new scale $`R1/\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }}1`$ appears inside the core, the first term in Eq. (81) can be neglected on larger scales and there is no crossover at $`R1`$.

If $`Q_01`$, Eq. (81) is reduced to Eq. (21). If $`R1`$, $`Q_0=AR`$ ($`A0.58`$), and Eq. (81) can be rewritten as

$`_R^2\left\{_R^2L+{\displaystyle \frac{A\mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}}(R^2_R^24s^2)L\right\}=0.`$
The solution of the equation is a composition of terms $`\lambda (R)\mathrm{sin}(m\varphi )`$ with different $`m`$. The condition $`\lambda (R)=0`$ keeps two constants in the general solution of the ordinary differential equation for $`\lambda (R)`$, two regular near $`R=0`$ partial solutions are

$`R^{|m|}\mathrm{and}R_2^{|m|}F_1({\displaystyle \frac{|m|\sqrt{m^2+4s^2}}{2}},{\displaystyle \frac{|m|+\sqrt{m^2+4s^2}}{2}},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}+|m|,{\displaystyle \frac{A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }R^2}{4}}),`$
where $`{}_{2}{}^{}F_{1}^{}`$ is the hyper-geometric function ($`{}_{2}{}^{}F_{1}^{}(a,b,c,z)=1+abz/c+\mathrm{}`$). Two constants (e.g. derivatives $`\lambda ^{(|m|)}(0)`$ and $`\lambda ^{(|m|+2)}(0)`$) are chosen to ensure the slowest possible grow at $`R1`$, i.e to exclude the largest exponent among $`\alpha `$ in Eq. (22).

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$, it is possible to derive a better approximation in the core. We can expand $`Q_0(R)`$ in a series, look for the series solution $`\lambda (R)`$ and extract the terms of the highest order in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. For example, for $`m=1`$ the series for $`\lambda (R)`$ begins with $`l_1R+l_3R^3`$, which fix two constants in the partial solution:

$`\lambda (R)=`$ $`l_1R\left[1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }s(2s^2)}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{s^2A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }R^2}{8}}+_2F_1({\displaystyle \frac{1\sqrt{1+4s^2}}{2}},{\displaystyle \frac{1+\sqrt{1+4s^2}}{2}},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},{\displaystyle \frac{A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }R^2}{4}})\right)\right]`$
$`+`$ $`l_3{\displaystyle \frac{8}{A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }s^2}}R\left[1+_2F_1({\displaystyle \frac{1\sqrt{1+4s^2}}{2}},{\displaystyle \frac{1+\sqrt{1+4s^2}}{2}},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},{\displaystyle \frac{A^2\mathrm{\Gamma }R^2}{4}})\right].`$
The solutions of Eqs. (79,80) have the following form:

$`Q_1=\vartheta (R)_\varphi \mathrm{sin}(m\varphi ),\phi _1=\sigma (R)\mathrm{sin}(m\varphi ),`$
and should be found from the equations

$`\vartheta ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}\vartheta ^{}{\displaystyle \frac{1+m^2}{R^2}}\vartheta {\displaystyle \frac{2Q_0}{sR^2}}\sigma +(13Q_0^2)\vartheta =\mathrm{\Gamma }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}_RQ_0\lambda ,`$
$`\sigma ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}\sigma ^{}{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{R^2}}\sigma +{\displaystyle \frac{2}{Q_0}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{sm^2}{R^2}}\vartheta +_RQ_0\sigma ^{}\right)={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{2}}\left(\lambda ^{\prime \prime }+{\displaystyle \frac{12s}{R}}\lambda ^{}{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{R^2}}\lambda \right),`$
which generalize the expressions of Ref. PR90 .

The dynamic equations with the complex order parameter demonstrate that at any $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ nothing special happens on the core in the boundary conditions for Eqs. (4-6). The peculiarity of extremely small $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ which leads to non-slipping condition is in the slow grow of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ far from the disclination.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The determination of the Dalitz plot slope parameters for the $`K^\pm (3\pi )^\pm `$ decays is of interest for the Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) and as a check on the direct CP violation. The latter would manifest itself by the difference between the $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ Dalitz plot distributions (see for example ).

The square of the matrix element of the $`\tau ^{}`$ ($`K^\pm \pi ^0\pi ^0\pi ^\pm `$) decay can be written as

$$|A(K^\pm 3\pi )|^21+gY+hY^2+kX^2+\mathrm{},$$
(1)
where $`X=(s_1s_2)/m_\pi ^2`$ and $`Y=(s_3s_0)/m_\pi ^2`$ are the Dalitz variables, and the parameters $`g÷k`$ are the “Dalitz plot slopes”. Here $`s_i=(p_Kp_i)^2`$, $`s_0=\frac{1}{3}(s_1+s_2+s_3)`$, $`p_K`$ and $`p_i`$ are the $`K^\pm `$ and $`\pi _i`$ four-momenta ($`\pi _3`$ is the odd pion).

The direct CP violation could be detected by the observation of the following charge asymmetry:

$$(\delta g)_\tau ^{}=\frac{g^+g^{}}{g^++g^{}}.$$
(2)
The theoretical predictions for the asymmetry $`(\delta g)_\tau ^{}`$ in the framework of the Standard Model (SM) were originally spread in the wide range of $`210^6÷10^3`$ . Over last years they have converged to the value of $`10^5`$ . In a wide class of possible supersymmetric extensions of the SM larger values are possible. For example, in the Weinberg model  the value of $`210^4`$ is predicted .

This topic has been attracting significant interest in the recent years. The comparison of the results of the latest $`K^+`$ experiment  with the only one existing $`K^{}`$ measurement  leads to the value of $`(\delta g)_\tau ^{}=0.117\pm 0.022`$, i.e. 5.3 sigma effect.

Recently the CP conserving amplitudes for the $`K3\pi `$ decays were recalculated in ChPT at the next-to-leading order . In this view a new high statistics measurement for the $`K3\pi `$ decays is desirable.

These observations encourage us to perform a new measurement of the Dalitz plot slope parameters $`g`$, $`h`$ and $`k`$ for the $`K^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0\pi ^{}`$ decay, based on the statistics of about 250 K events.

## 2 Experimental setup

The experiment has been performed at the IHEP proton synchrotron U-70 with the experimental apparatus “ISTRA+” which is a modification of the “ISTRA-M” setup  and described in some details in our recent papers , where studies of the $`K_{e3}^{}`$ and $`K_{\mu 3}^{}`$ decays have been presented. The setup is located in the negative unseparated secondary beam with the following parameters during the measurements: the momentum is $`25`$ GeV/$`c`$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }p/p2\%`$, the admixture of kaons is $`3\%`$, and the total intensity is $`310^6`$ per spill.

The side view of the “ISTRA+” detector is shown in Fig. 1.

The momentum and the direction of the beam particle, deflected by the magnet M1, is measured with four proportional chambers BPC1–BPC4. The kaon identification is done by three threshold gas Cherenkov counters $`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$0–$`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$2. The momenta of the secondary charged particles, deflected in the vertical plane by the magnet M2, are measured with three proportional chambers PC1–PC3, with three drift chambers DC1–DC3, and with four planes of drift tubes DT. The secondary photons are registered by the lead glass electromagnetic calorimeters SP1 and SP2. To veto low energy photons the decay volume is surrounded by the guard system of eight lead glass rings and by the SP2. The wide aperture threshold helium Cherenkov counters $`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$3 and $`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$4 are used to trigger the electrons and are not relevant for the present paper. In Fig. 1, HC is a scintillator-iron sampling hadron calorimeter, MH is a scintillator hodoscope used to solve the reconstruction ambiguity for multitrack events and improve the time resolution of the tracking system, MuH is a muon hodoscope.

The trigger is provided by the scintillation counters S1–S5, the Cherenkov counters $`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$0–$`\stackrel{ˇ}{\mathrm{C}}`$2, and the sum of the amplitudes from the last dinodes of the calorimeter SP1 (see Ref.  for details). The latter serves to suppress the $`K^{}\mu ^{}\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ decay.

## 3 Event selection

About 363 M and 332 M events were collected during two physics runs in Spring 2001 and Autumn 2001. These experimental data are supported by about 260 M events generated with the Monte Carlo program GEANT3 . The Monte Carlo simulation includes a realistic description of the experimental setup: the decay volume entrance windows, the track chamber windows, gas, sense wires and cathode structures, the Cherenkov counter mirrors and gas, the showers development in the electromagnetic calorimeters, etc. The details of the reconstruction procedure have been presented in Ref. , here only key points relevant to the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ event selection are described.

The data processing starts with the beam particle reconstruction in the proportional chambers BPC1–BPC4, and then with the secondary tracks reconstruction in the tracking system PC1–PC3, DC1–DC3 and DT. Finally, the electromagnetic showers are looked for in the calorimeters SP1 and SP2. The method of the photons reconstruction is based on the Monte Carlo generated patterns of showers. To suppress leptonic decays of kaons the particle identification is used . The muons are identified using the information from the calorimeters SP1 and HC. The electrons are identified using the ratio of the energy of the shower, detected in the SP1 and associated with the track of the electron, and the momentum of the electron.

At the first step of the event selection only the measurements of the beam and secondary charged particles are used. Those events are selected which satisfy the following requirements:

* only one beam track and only one negative secondary track are detected;
* the probability of the vertex fit, $`CL(\chi ^2)`$, is more than 0.01;
* the decay vertex is in the region before the calorimeter SP2 (400 cm $`<z<`$ 1650 cm), and its transverse deviation from the setup axis is less than 10 cm;
* the angle between the beam track and the secondary track is more than 2.5 mrad;
* the transverse momentum of the secondary track with respect to the beam direction is less than 150 MeV/$`c`$;
* the secondary track is not identified as an electron or as a muon.

At the second step of the event selection the measurements of the showers in the calorimeters SP1 and SP2 are used. The following requirements are used to choose the photons (showers):

* the distance between the shower in the calorimeter SP1 and the intersection of the secondary track with the transverse plane of the SP1 is more than 1.5 cm along the magnetic field of the M2 and more than 9 cm in the transverse plane;
* the photon energy is more than 0.7 GeV, but is more than 1.4 GeV when the photon is detected in three or less cells of the calorimeter SP1;
* for events where the secondary track is not associated with any shower in the calorimeter SP1 and with any hit in the hodoscope MH the photon energy is more than 1.4 GeV;
* the energy of the photon found in the multishower cluster is more than 2 GeV.

For each selected $`\gamma \gamma `$ pair the deviation of its effective mass from the $`\pi ^0`$ mass, $`\mathrm{\Delta }M(\gamma \gamma )=M(\gamma \gamma )m(\pi ^0)`$, is calculated. If this deviation is in the range of $`|\mathrm{\Delta }M(\gamma \gamma )|<50`$ MeV, the $`\gamma \gamma `$ pair is considered as a candidate of the $`\pi ^0`$ decay. Then, if this $`\gamma \gamma `$ pair is taken as a $`\pi ^0`$ decay, the four-momenta of its photons are multiplied by a factor $`\lambda =m(\pi ^0)/M(\gamma \gamma )`$. The $`\pi ^0`$ detection is illustrated in Fig. 2a, where the spectrum of the effective masses of the “best” $`\gamma \gamma `$ pairs, i.e. the pairs with the smallest value of $`|\mathrm{\Delta }M(\gamma \gamma )|`$, is shown for the selected events with at least four detected photons. In further selections all combinatorial $`\pi ^0`$ candidates are used, not only the “best”.

At the third step of the event selection the sample of the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\gamma \gamma \gamma \gamma `$ events with two $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays is collected. For this sample the further selection is done by the requirements that the measured value of the kaon mass is in the range of $`|M(\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0)m(K^{})|<80`$ MeV (see Fig. 2b) and then the event passes the kinematical 6C-fit for the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ hypothesis. The efficiency of the last cut is about 89%. Both requirements are considered for all possible combinations of photons and the best 6C-fit hypothesis is chosen.

Using the mentioned above selection criteria for the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decay we have collected 252 K completely reconstructed events. The corresponding numbers of accepted Monte Carlo events are about ten times larger than in the experiment. The surviving background, which is mainly due to kaon decays to other allowed modes, is estimated from the Monte Carlo simulation to be less than 0.04%.

The detailed event reduction statistics is given in Table 1. The difference in the fraction of the selected events for two runs is due to the higher threshold in the SP1 at the trigger level for the second run, i.e. the initial statistics of the first run contains more $`K^{}\mu ^{}\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ decays than the initial statistics of the second run.

## 4 Analysis

To determine the parameters $`g`$, $`h`$ and $`k`$ in Eq. (1) the uncorrected distribution $`\rho (X,Y)`$ of the event density on the Dalitz plot was analysed. This distribution is shown in Fig. 3 for the selected $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ events. At first the background contamination was subtracted from the Dalitz plot. The contamination was estimated from the Monte Carlo simulation of the particle interaction with the material of the detector and of the kaon decay including all decay modes with the branching ratios more than 1%. The corresponding branching ratios and matrix elements in this simulation were taken from the PDG . In Fig. 4 the fraction of the background contamination is shown as a function of the Dalitz plot variables $`|X|`$ and $`Y`$.

The background subtracted distribution $`\rho ^{}(X,Y)`$ was fitted by the method of least squares with the function:

$$\rho ^{}(X,Y)F_1(X,Y)+gF_2(X,Y)+hF_3(X,Y)+kF_4(X,Y),$$
(3)
where $`F_k(X,Y)`$ are the distributions for the $`w_k`$–weighted Monte Carlo $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ events generated with the constant matrix element and reconstructed with the same program as for the real events. The weight factors $`w_1=1`$, $`w_2=Y_{true}`$, $`w_3=Y_{true}^2`$ and $`w_4=X_{true}^2`$ are given by the “true” values of $`X`$ and $`Y`$, but the bins of $`F_k(X,Y)`$ are given by the “measured” ones. This method allows to avoid the systematic errors  due to the “migration” of the events on the Dalitz plot because of the finite experimental resolution. Fig. 5 illustrates the Monte Carlo estimated experimental resolution for the variables $`|X|`$ and $`Y`$, where the “measured” values are shown versus the “true” ones.

## 5 Results

The result of the least squares fit is illustrated in Fig. 6, where the matrix element

$$|A(K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0)|^2=C\frac{\rho ^{}(X,Y)}{F_1(X,Y)}$$
(4)
for the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decay is shown as a function of $`Y`$ in the different intervals of $`|X|`$. The normalization constant $`C`$ in Eq. (4) provides the value of $`|A|^2=1`$ at the point ($`X`$=0, $`Y`$=0). The integrated dependences of the matrix element on the variables $`Y`$ and $`|X|`$ are shown in Fig. 7.

The values of the Dalitz plot slope parameters are found to be

$`g=0.627\pm 0.004\pm 0.010,`$

$`h=0.046\pm 0.004\pm 0.012,`$

$`k=0.001\pm 0.001\pm 0.002`$

with $`\chi ^2/ndf=502/558`$. Here the first errors are statistical and the second ones are systematic.

In the determination of the systematic errors of the slope parameters measurement the following contributions were taken into account.

* Two samples of the events collected in the runs (Spring and Autumn 2001) with some differences in characteristics of the setup were analysed separately (the corresponding contributions to the systematic errors are $`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.001 and $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0002).
* To avoid some uncertainties at the edge of the Dalitz plot the extreme bins of this plot were cut ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.002, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0004).
* The energy threshold of the selected photons was increased from the value of 0.7 GeV to 2 GeV ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.006, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.007, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.001).
* The mass and energy ranges used in the event selection criteria were varied from the value of 30 MeV to 80 MeV with and without introducing a factor $`\lambda =m(\pi ^0)/M(\gamma \gamma )`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.003, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.004, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.001).
* The background contamination estimated from the Monte Carlo simulation was not subtracted from the Dalitz plot before the least squares fit ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0002).
* The particle identification of the secondary track was not used ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0003).
* The electromagnetic showers in the calorimeter SP2 were not used in the photon reconstruction ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.006, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.007, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0014).
* The upper edge of the decay vertex position was varied along the setup axis between the chamber PC1 and the calorimeter SP2 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.004, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.005, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.001).
* The cut applied to the angle between the beam and secondary tracks was varied from 1.5 to 3.5 mrad ($`\mathrm{\Delta }g`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }h`$ = 0.001, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ = 0.0003).

## 6 Summary and conclusion

The Dalitz plot slope parameters for the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decay have been measured using the “ISTRA+” spectrometer. It is an update of our preliminary presentation . The results of our measurement, the world averages  and the results of previous experiments \[6, 7, 15 – 21\] on the $`K^\pm \pi ^\pm \pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decays are presented in Fig. 8.

Among the previous experiments there are eight measurements of the $`K^+`$ decay, but only one of the $`K^{}`$ decay. Our values of the slope parameters $`g`$ and $`h`$ are consistent with the world averages dominated by $`K^+`$ measurements. The difference between the values of the linear slope $`g`$ obtained for the $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decay in our experiment and in another one  is 1.9 standard deviations.

Using the same rules as in the PDG  (without the data  obtained from the linear fit only) and adding our measurement, one can obtain the world average values of the linear slope $`g`$ for the $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ decays separately: $`g^+=0.684\pm 0.033`$ and $`g^{}=0.617\pm 0.018`$. They give for the charge asymmetry (2) the value of $`(\delta g)_\tau ^{}=0.051\pm 0.028`$.

The analytical expressions of the CP conserving $`K3\pi `$ amplitudes with single parameter functions, recalculated in the framework of ChPT at the next-to-leading order, were fitted in Ref.  to all available $`K2\pi `$ and $`K3\pi `$ data. The result of this global fit gives the following predictions for physical observables of the $`K^\pm \pi ^\pm \pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decays: $`g`$ = 0.638, $`h`$ = 0.074 and $`k`$ = 0.0045. These predictions agree within $`1÷2`$ standard deviations with our results.

The work is supported by the RFBR contract no. 03-02-16330.


text:
# The Approximate Invariance of the Average Number of Connections for the Continuum Percolation of Squares at Criticality

## I Introduction

Continuum percolation has been of significant interest in the study of porous media . It offers important advantages over lattice percolation due to the fact that the majority of systems encountered in nature are not confined to a lattice and are therefore modeled more appropriately using continuum systems .

When studying the transport properties in porous media, the connectivity properties of the spanning cluster at percolation threshold are important. One measure of the connectivity is the mean number of connections per site. In the case of lattice percolation, Scher and Zallen  demonstrated the approximate dimensional invariance of this quantity. The behavior of the analogous quantity $`B_c`$ in continuum percolation systems has been previously studied . In the case of continuum percolation, the product of the critical concentration $`N_c`$ of objects at the percolation threshold and the average excluded area $`<A_{ex}>`$ gives the critical average number of intersections per object $`B_c`$;

$$B_c=N_c<A_{ex}>.$$
(1)
The excluded area of an object is defined as the area around an object into which the center of another similar object is not allowed to enter if intersection of the two objects is to be avoided . In the case of objects that are allowed random orientations in a specified angular interval, one defines an average excluded area $`<A_{ex}>`$ , that is the excluded area averaged over all possible orientational configurations of the two objects. It has been claimed  that $`B_c`$ for percolating systems of differently shaped objects lies within a bounded range : in 2-D, $`3.57B_c4.48`$. $`B_c`$ represents the connectivity in the spanning cluster and is of interest as the invariance of $`B_c`$ would enable us to estimate the percolation threshold $`N_c`$ using Eq.(1), once $`<A_{ex}>`$ has been calculated.

In the present work we focus on continuum percolation systems of squares in 2-D, in which the objects are allowed random orientations within a specified angular interval. The motivation for the study of such orientationally constrained systems comes from the geological observation that fractures in rocks do not have random isotropic orientations but are oriented within a more or less fixed angular interval. For our system of squares there is one angle $`\theta `$ that specifies the orientation of the object and we constrain it to lie within $`\theta _\mu \theta \theta _\mu `$. We determine the percolation thresholds for different values of the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$. Simulations are also performed to find the excluded area for each case. Our results show that for a given object shape $`B_c`$ is constant to within 1.6% for squares independent of the value of the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$.

## II Simulation Method for finding Excluded Area

Here we describe the method used to determine the excluded area for a pair of objects that are allowed random orientations within the angular interval $`\theta _\mu `$ to $`\theta _\mu `$. For rectangles (squares being a particular case) $`\theta _\mu =0`$ corresponds to the case where the objects are aligned parallel to each other and $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$ corresponds to the random isotropic case. We describe the algorithm for finding the excluded area of squares in 2-D.

A square of unit side is placed with its center coinciding with the center of a lattice of edge length $`L=5`$. The lattice size is chosen to be larger than the excluded area, but small enough to sufficiently minimise the number of wasted trials and yield good statistics. The square is given an orientation $`\theta _i`$, randomly chosen in the interval $`\theta _\mu \theta _i\theta _\mu `$, with the reference axis. A second square is then introduced into the lattice with its center randomly positioned in the lattice. This square is given an orientation $`\theta _j`$ chosen randomly from the same interval as for the first object. We then determine if the two squares overlap. We repeat this procedure for $`10^9`$ trials and record the number of times the two squares overlap. This number divided by the number of trials is the probability that the two objects overlap. The probability of overlap times the area, $`L^2`$, of the lattice yields the average excluded area for a pair of squares oriented randomly between $`\theta _\mu `$ to $`\theta _\mu `$. The method used to determine the overlap of squares in 2-D is described in detail in Ref..

## III Excluded Area Simulation Results

We determine the average excluded area for a unit square for different constraint angles. We also determine the excluded area of widthless sticks for the case of random isotropic orientations. In our simulations the widthless stick is represented by a rectangle of edge lengths $`1`$ and $`1\times 10^{12}`$ . Table 1 lists the Monte Carlo results for $`<A_{ex}>`$ obtained for the different objects studied for the case of random isotropic orientations. Table 2 shows the variation of $`<A_{ex}>`$ for squares with the constraint angle. Our values for $`<A_{ex}>`$ for aligned squares are consistent with all previous results . Furthermore, our $`<A_{ex}>`$ values for randomly oriented widthless sticks are also consistent with earlier determinations ; our slightly higher value of $`<A_{ex}>`$ compared to that of Ref. is explained by the fact that our widthless sticks have a finite width and thus are expected to exhibit a larger $`<A_{ex}>`$ than found analytically for the zero width limit. However our $`<A_{ex}>`$ for the case of randomly aligned squares is different from previous analytical results, our value being $`12`$% above that determined by Ref. . We propose a reason for this difference in the next section.

## IV Discrepancy with previous analytical determination of excluded area

We investigated the cause of the difference between our value of $`<A_{ex}>`$ for squares in 2-D and the previous analytical result in  and found it to be the following: In arriving at the expression for $`<A_{ex}>`$ Ref. finds the excluded area for a pair of rectangles (Eq. 18) with a given relative orientation $`\theta `$ (see Figure 1). For squares, using equation (Eq. 18) in Ref.,

$$A_{ex}=(\mathrm{sin}\theta +\mathrm{cos}\theta +1)^22\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\theta ,$$
(2)
where

$$\theta |\theta _i\theta _j|,$$
(3)
$`\theta _i`$ and $`\theta _j`$ being the individual orientations of the two squares. Ref. then obtains the average excluded area by averaging the right hand side of Eq.(2) over all possible orientations of both objects, $`\theta _\mu \theta _i\theta _\mu `$ and $`\theta _\mu \theta _j\theta _\mu `$ , using a uniform probability distribution

$$P(\theta _i)=P(\theta _j)=1/2\theta _\mu .$$
(4)
However, it appears Ref.  overlooked the fact that Eq.(2) holds only for $`0\theta \pi /2`$ (hence $`0\theta _\mu \pi /4`$), since for $`\pi /2\theta \pi `$, the expression gives a value of $`A_{ex}`$ less than the minimum possible value of 4 . Thus the procedure of Ref. does not work when the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$ is greater than $`\pi /4`$. The correct result can be obtained by replacing $`\theta `$ in Eq.(2) by

$$\theta ^{}=\theta mod(\pi /2),$$
(5)
so that Eq.(2) holds for all values of $`\theta _\mu `$. For the random isotropic case $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$, using the modified Eq.(2) and integrating numerically we obtain $`<A_{ex}>=4.54647`$ which is in close agreement with our Monte-Carlo simulation result.

We also calculate the values of $`<A_{ex}>`$ for squares with other values of $`\theta _\mu `$ between $`0`$ and $`\pi /2`$ (Table 2). We notice that the values of $`<A_{ex}>`$ are the same for $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$ and $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$, which is true since the rotation of a square in a particular configuration through an additional angle of $`\pi /4`$ yields the same configuration.

Note that the value of $`<A_{ex}>`$ appears to decrease for $`\theta _\mu >\pi /4`$ , reaches a local minimum near $`\theta _\mu =\pi /3`$ and then increases again till it reaches a maximum at $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$ (see Fig. 2). This can be explained as follows. The case $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$ is equivalent to the case of random isotropic orientation. Here the angle $`\theta =|\theta _i\theta _j|`$ can range from 0 to $`\pi /2`$. When $`\theta _\mu `$ is greater than $`\pi /4`$, $`\theta `$ can take values greater than $`\pi /2`$ which means that in addition to the configurations obtained for $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$, there are other configurations for which the relative orientation $`\pi /2\theta 2\theta _\mu `$. However the latter configurations are, in fact, the same as those for $`\theta =(2\theta _\mu \pi /2)<\pi /2`$ due to the symmetry of squares. Thus, the decrease in the $`<A_{ex}>`$ between $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$ and $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$ can be attributed to the increased probability of achieving configurations with smaller excluded areas.

## V Percolation Thresholds

Using the procedure of Ref , we perform Monte Carlo simulations for the determination of the percolation threshold based upon the Leath method and the methods Lorenz and Ziff  used in their study of continuum percolation of spheres. The only difference in our present simulations is that the random numbers generated to fix the orientation of an object lie within a specified angular range from $`\theta _\mu `$ and $`\theta _\mu `$. We determine the percolation thresholds of squares in 2-D for different values of the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$. These results are shown in Table 2. We also show the values of critical area fraction $`\varphi _c`$ . Fig. 3 shows a plot of the percolation threshold $`N_c`$ for squares in 2-D versus the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$. An interesting feature of the 2-D plot is that as we increase the orientational freedom beginning from $`\theta _\mu =0`$, $`N_c`$ drops until it reaches the value for $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$, then begins increasing until it reaches a maximum and then falls again. This behavior is expected if $`B_c`$ is to remain approximately invariant, as we shall explain below.

## VI Approximate Invariance of $`B_c`$

Using the percolation thresholds and excluded area obtained from our Monte Carlo simulations, we find the average number of connections per object at threshold $`B_c`$. Table 2 shows the values of $`B_c`$ for squares for various values of the constraint angle $`\theta _\mu `$. The change in $`B_c`$ in going from a constraint angle of $`\theta _\mu =0`$ to $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$ is less than $`1.6`$%. Using the old values of $`<A_{ex}>`$ , the variation in $`B_c`$ is seen to be $``$ 9.5%. We see that the slight decrease in $`<A_{ex}>`$ between $`\theta _\mu =\pi /4`$ and $`\theta _\mu =\pi /2`$ (see Fig. 2) is compensated by an increase in the corresponding $`N_c`$ (see Fig. 3) to give an approximately invariant $`B_c`$. The closeness of $`B_c`$ values for a given system is striking and is consistent with the hypothesis that $`B_c`$ is approximately invariant for continuum percolating systems of a particular shape.

## VII Summary

Our results show that the value of $`B_c`$ is approximately independent of orientational constraints. The $`B_c`$ value of a shape is indicative of the efficiency of the object in forming a percolating cluster. Not only the magnitude of the excluded area plays a part in the formation of connections, but also the distribution of the average excluded area in space. This is easily seen from the fact that both unit area discs and aligned unit area squares have $`<A_{ex}>`$ = 4 , but the percolation threshold of aligned squares $`\varphi _c=0.6666`$  is lower than that of discs $`\varphi _c=0.676339`$ . Our results suggest that the value $`B_c`$ can be considered as a unique quantitative characteristic of a shape and can therefore be useful in the prediction of the percolation threshold as has been previously pointed out .

### Acknowledgements

We thank R. Consiglio, A. Schweiger and P. Kumar for discussions and BP, NSERC and NSF for support.