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Résumé |
In a wide variety of physical systems and over many length and energy scales one en-
counters ordered phases of matter on surfaces. The nature of the order has several novel
features not encountered in the corresponding flat space systems, including the presence of
various types of topological defects in the ground state that would normally only be excited
states, and the instability of otherwise stable states. I will discuss the origin, structure and
stability of these defect arrays as a function of the geometry and topology of the surface,
the nature of the long range order itself and the number of ordering units. |
