SMECTIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS AS CONTINUA WITH LATENT MICROSTRUCTURE

Smectic liquid crystals are quasi solids, which possess microstructure both of the material and local type (the nematic mictrostructure and the lamellae, respectively). They also exhibit phase transitions: from smectic B to smectic A, to nematic, to isotrtopic liquid (see [1], Ch. 7). Their study, though special, might show up general advantages and drawbacks of different types of mathematical models. Here, while intent on proving the property announced in the title, we set forth the groundwork for the continuum model (see, in a more specific and concrete mode [2]).