Mathematics

In this talk I will discuss the main features of a variational model for nematic shells. After introducing the model, I will present some recent results dealing with qualitative properties of the solutions. Among all, I will concentrate on the relations between the topology of the shell and the functional framework of the problem. In particular, I will show how the topology of the shell forces the emergence of defects. The talk is based on a series of  joint works with G. Canevari (Oxford), M. Veneroni (Pavia) and M. Snarski (Brown).