Strict Physicality of Global Weak Solutions of a Navier-Stokes Q-tensor System with Singular Potential

Abstract

We study the existence, regularity and so-called `strict physicality' of weak solutions of a coupled Navier-Stokes Q-tensor system which is proposed as a model for the incompressible flow of nematic liquid crystal materials. An important contribution to the dynamics comes from a singular potential introduced by John Ball and Apala Majumdar (Nematic Liquid Crystals: From Maier-Saupe to a Continuum Theory, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., Vol. 525: pp. 1-11, 2010) which replaces the commonly employed Landau-de Gennes bulk potential. This is built into our model to ensure that a natural physical constraint on the eigenvalues of the Q-tensor order parameter is respected by the dynamics of the system.