01141nas a2200133   4500008004300000245014200043210006900185260004800254520060000302100002000902700002200922700002700944856003600971       2009                        en_Ud  00aDiscrete-to-continuum limits for strain-alignment-coupled systems: Magnetostrictive solids, ferroelectric crystals and nematic elastomers0 aDiscretetocontinuum limits for strainalignmentcoupled systems Ma  bAmerican Institute of Mathematical Sciences3 aIn the framework of linear elasticity, we study the limit of a class of discrete free energies modeling strain-alignment-coupled systems by a rigorous coarse-graining procedure, as the number of molecules diverges. We focus on three paradigmatic examples: magnetostrictive solids, ferroelectric crystals and nematic elastomers, obtaining in the limit three continuum models consistent with those commonly employed in the current literature. We also derive the correspondent macroscopic energies in the presence of displacement boundary conditions and of various kinds of applied external fields.1 aCicalese, Marco1 aDeSimone, Antonio1 aZeppieri, Caterina Ida  uhttp://hdl.handle.net/1963/3788