@article {2014,
	title = {Spontaneous division and motility in active nematic droplets},
	number = {Physical review letters;volume 112; issue 14; article number 147802;},
	year = {2014},
	publisher = {American Physical Society},
	abstract = {We investigate the mechanics of an active droplet endowed with internal nematic order and surrounded by an isotropic Newtonian fluid. Using numerical simulations we demonstrate that, due to the interplay between the active stresses and the defective geometry of the nematic director, this system exhibits two of the fundamental functions of living cells: spontaneous division and motility, by means of self-generated hydrodynamic flows. These behaviors can be selectively activated by controlling a single physical parameter, namely, an active variant of the capillary number.},
	doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.147802},
	url = {http://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/34902},
	author = {Luca Giomi and Antonio DeSimone}
}
@article {2013,
	title = {Defect annihilation and proliferation in active nematics},
	number = {arXiv:1303.4720;},
	year = {2013},
	note = {5 pages, 4 figures},
	institution = {SISSA},
	abstract = {Liquid crystals inevitably possess topological defect excitations generated\r\nthrough boundary conditions, applied fields or in quenches to the ordered\r\nphase. In equilibrium pairs of defects coarsen and annihilate as the uniform\r\nground state is approached. Here we show that defects in active liquid crystals\r\nexhibit profoundly different behavior, depending on the degree of activity and\r\nits contractile or extensile character. While contractile systems enhance the\r\nannihilation dynamics of passive systems, extensile systems act to drive\r\ndefects apart so that they swarm around in the manner of topologically\r\nwell-characterized self-propelled particles. We develop a simple analytical\r\nmodel for the defect dynamics which reproduces the key features of both the\r\nnumerical solutions and recent experiments on microtuble-kinesin assemblies.},
	url = {http://hdl.handle.net/1963/6566},
	author = {Luca Giomi and Mark J. Bowick and Xu Ma and M. Cristina Marchetti}
}
@article {2013,
	title = {Softly Constrained Films},
	number = {arXiv:1304.1077;},
	year = {2013},
	note = {Review article, 21 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Soft Matter},
	publisher = {SISSA},
	abstract = {The shape of materials is often subject to a number of geometric constraints\r\nthat limit the size of the system or fix the structure of its boundary. In soft\r\nand biological materials, however, these constraints are not always hard, but\r\nare due to other physical mechanisms that affect the overall force balance. A\r\ncapillary film spanning a flexible piece of wire or a cell anchored to a\r\ncompliant substrate by mean of adhesive contacts are examples of these softly\r\nconstrained systems in the macroscopic and microscopic world. In this article I\r\nreview some of the important mathematical and physical developments that\r\ncontributed to our understanding of shape formation in softly constrained films\r\nand their recent application to the mechanics of adherent cells.},
	url = {http://hdl.handle.net/1963/6563},
	author = {Luca Giomi}
}
