Kardar-Parisi-Zhang model and anomalous elasticity of two- and three-dimensional smectic-A liquid crystals

We reveal a deep theoretical relationship between equilibrium statistical physics of smectic-A liquid crystals and nonequilibrium statistical physics of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang dynamical model [M. Kardar, G. Parisi, and Y.-C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 889 (1986)] for interfaces growing in the presence of a flux of incoming particles. This relationship provides an exact approach to study Landau-Peierls phenomena and anomalous elasticity of two-dimensional smectic-A liquid crystals. Also, it yields prediction of an unusual elastic critical point in three-dimensional smectic-A liquid crystals with broken inversion symmetry (head-to-tail packing of layers). We discuss the elasticity and fluctuations of these unusual smectic-A phases

Anharmonic elasticity of smectics A and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang model

We relate anharmonic equilibrium thermal fluctuations of smectics A to fluctuations of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) dynamical model for a growing interface. The KPZ model in 1+1 dimensions is one to one related to a 2D smectic elastic model whose scaling behavior is then obtained exactly. The KPZ model in 2+1 dimensions maps into an elastic critical point of 3D smectics A with broken inversion symmetry (head-to-tail packing of layers). We discuss the elasticity and fluctuations of these novel smectic-A phases

Sliding Columnar Phase of DNA-Lipid Complexes

We introduce a simple model for DNA-cationic-lipid complexes in which galleries between planar bilayer lipid lamellae contain DNA 2D smectic lattices that couple orientationally and positionally to lattices in neighboring galleries. We identify a new equilibrium phase in which there are long-range orientational but not positional correlations between DNA lattices. We discuss properties of this new phase such as its X-ray structure factor S(r), which exhibits unusual exp(- const.ln^2 r) behavior as a function of in-plane separation r.Comment: This file contains 4 pages of double column text and one postscript figure. This version includes interactions between dislocations in a given gallery and presents an improved estimate of the decoupling temperature. It is the published versio