On the stationary solutions of Doi-Onsager model in general dimension

Abstract

We give new results of the phase transition of dilute colloidal solutions of rod-like molecules in dimension $D \geq 3$. For the low concentration of particles in a carrier fluid, we prove that the isotropic phase is the unique solution to the Doi-Onsager model with the general potential kernel. In addition, we present the regime of the bifurcation of nematic phases in the class of axially symmetric solutions. Our method is based on a generalization of the classical Leray-Schauder degree we developed for this problem.