MESOSCOPIC INTERPRETATION OF FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION DESCRIBING TIME BEHAVIOR OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL ORIENTATION

Starting out with the mesoscopic mass balance for liquid crystals we d erive the balance equation for the orientation distribution function ( ODF) of the molecules which is of Fokker-Planck type. Comparison of th is mesoscopic generated Fokker-Planck equation to well-known statistic ally induced balance equations of the ODF results in a slip relation b etween the rotation of the liquid crystal and the angular velocity of molecules of different orientations. The difference between these two angular velocities is caused by the torque of the meanfield, by the ve locity gradient, by the alignment, and by the non-isotropy of the ODF. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.