Global existence of solutions of the liquid crystal flow for the Oseen–Frank model in R2

AbstractIn the first part of this paper, we establish the global existence of solutions of the liquid crystal (gradient) flow for the well-known Oseen–Frank model. The liquid crystal flow is a prototype of equations from the Ericksen–Leslie system in the hydrodynamic theory and generalizes the heat flow for harmonic maps into the 2-sphere. The Ericksen–Leslie system is a system of the Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the liquid crystal flow. In the second part of this paper, we also prove the global existence of solutions of the Ericksen–Leslie system for a general Oseen–Frank model in R2