In a 2D liquid crystal, each topological defect has a topological charge and a characteristic orientation, and hence can be regarded as an oriented particle. Theories predict that the trajectories of annihilating defects depend on their relative orientation. Recently, these predictions have been tested in experiments on smectic-C films. Those experiments find curved trajectories that are similar to the predictions, but the detailed relationship between the defect orientations and the far-field director is different. To understand this difference, we extend the previous theories by adding the effects of elastic anisotropy, and find that it significantly changes the curved trajectories.

中文翻译：

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近晶C膜缺陷的灭轨迹

在2D液晶中，每个拓扑缺陷都具有拓扑电荷和特征取向，因此可以视为取向粒子。理论预测，defects灭缺陷的轨迹取决于它们的相对方向。最近，这些预测已在近晶C胶片的实验中得到检验。这些实验发现了与预测相似的弯曲轨迹，但是缺陷方向和远场指向矢之间的详细关系不同。为了理解这种差异，我们通过添加弹性各向异性的影响来扩展先前的理论，并发现它显着改变了弯曲轨迹。