Disclination lines in an external magnetic field

The director configuration of disclination lines in the presence of an exte rnal magnetic field is evaluated. Applying a polynomial expansion, we obtai n approximate analytical solutions for the director field which are discuss ed for the general case of elastic anisotropy. They point out the possibili ty of an extended defect core. The actual size of the core is estimated by minimizing the total energy, including both the energy of the nematic phase and the core energy.