Gareth Alexander
I am an Associate Professor in Physics and Complexity Science working in theoretical soft matter physics. My main interests at present are in applications of geometry and topology to the understanding of soft materials, where I have worked primarily on defects in liquid crystals, and self-propulsion in low Reynolds number hydrodynamics and active matter.
Before moving to Warwick I was a post-doc at UPenn working with Randy Kamien. And before that I was a DPhil student in Oxford with Julia Yeomans.
Teaching
In 2019/2020 I will lecture the following courses:
Recent publications
- "Geometry of Bend: Singular Lines and Defects in Twist-Bend Nematics", Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 047801 (2020).
with Jack Binysh and Joseph Pollard
- "A Björling representation for Jacobi fields on minimal surfaces and soap film instabilities", Proc. R. Soc. A 476, 20190903 (2020).
with Thomas Machon
- "Three-Dimensional Active Defect Loops", Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 088001 (2020).
with Jack Binysh, Žiga Kos, Simon Čopar, and Miha Ravnik
- "Knot your regular crystal of atoms", Science 365, 1377 (2019).
This article can be accessed free of charge via the following links: [summary] [reprint] [full text]
- "Point Defects, Topological Chirality, and Singularity Theory in Cholesteric Liquid-Crystal Droplets", Phys. Rev. X 9, 021004 (2019).
with Joseph Pollard, Gregor Posnjak, Simon Čopar, and Igor Muševič
- "Stable and unstable vortex knots in excitable media", Phys. Rev. E 99, 012211 (2019).
with Jack Binysh and Carl A. Whitfield
- "Woven Nematic Defects, Skyrmions, and the Abelian Sandpile Model", Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 237801 (2018).
with Thomas Machon
- "Maxwell's theory of solid angle and the construction of knotted fields", J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 385202 (2018).
with Jack Binysh
- "Vortex formation and dynamics of defects in active nematic shells", New J. Phys. 19, 103043 (2017).
with Diana Khoromskaia
- "Straight round the twist: frustration and chirality in smectics-A", Interface Focus 7: 20160118 (2017).
with Elisabetta A. Matsumoto and Randall D. Kamien
- "Hydrodynamic instabilities in active cholesteric liquid crystals", Eur. Phys. J. E 40: 50 (2017).
with Carl A. Whitfield, Tapan Chandra Adhyapak, Adriano Tiribocchi, Davide Marenduzzo, and Sriram Ramaswamy
- "Exact solutions for hydrodynamic interactions of two squirming spheres", J. Fluid Mech. 813, 618-646 (2017).
with Dario Papavassiliou
- "Instabilities and Solitons in Minimal Strips", Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 017801 (2016).
with Thomas Machon, Raymond E. Goldstein, and Adriana I. Pesci
- "Global Defect Topology in Nematic Liquid Crystals", Proc. R. Soc. A 472, 20160265 (2016).
with Thomas Machon
- "Umbilic Lines in Orientational Order", Phys. Rev. X 6, 011033 (2016).
with Thomas Machon
- "Motility of active fluid drops on surfaces", Phys. Rev. E 92, 062311 (2015).
with Diana Khoromskaia
- "The many-body reciprocal theorem and swimmer hydrodynamics", EPL 110, 44001 (2015).
with Dario Papavassiliou
- "Instability of a Möbius Strip Minimal Surface and a Link with Systolic Geometry", Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 127801 (2015).
with Adriana I. Pesci, Raymond E. Goldstein, and H. Keith Moffatt
- "Geometry of the Cholesteric Phase", Phys. Rev. X 4, 031050 (2014).
with Daniel A. Beller, Thomas Machon, Simon Čopar, Daniel M. Sussman, Randall D. Kamien, and Ricardo A. Mosna
- "Knotted Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals", Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 027801 (2014).
with Thomas Machon
- "Threading Dynamics of Ring Polymers in a Gel", ACS Macro Letters 3, 255-259 (2014).
with Davide Michieletto, Davide Marenduzzo, Enzo Orlandini and Matthew S. Turner
- "Knots and nonorientable surfaces in chiral nematics", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 14174-14179 (2013).
with Thomas Machon
Write to:
Centre for Complexity Science, Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Contact Details:
Office: D1.09 Zeeman Building
Telephone:
44 (0)2476 150210
Fax:
E-Mail:
G.P.Alexander@warwick.ac.uk