1. S. Paparini, G. G. Giusteri and L. A. Mihai, Shape Instabilities Driven by Topological Defects in Nematic Polymer Networks, J Elast 157, 69 (2025), doi: 10.1007/s10659-025-10160-6.
2. A. Giacomini and S. Paparini, A shape optimization problem for nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops, ESAIM: COCV 31, 47 (2025), doi: 10.1051/cocv/2025032.
3. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Singular Twist Waves in Chromonics, Wave Motion 134, 103486 (2025), doi: 10.1016/j.wavemoti.2024.103486.
4. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, What a twist cell experiment tells about a quartic twist theory for chromonics, Liq. Cryst., 51(6), 993 (2024), doi: 10.1080/02678292.2024.2324465.
5. F. Ciuchi, M. P. De Santo, S. Paparini, L. Spina and E. G. Virga, Inversion Ring in Chromonic Twisted Hedgehogs: Theory and Experiment, Liq. Cryst. 51(13–14), 2381 (2024), doi: 10.1080/02678292.2024.2313023.
6. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Geometric method to determine planar anchoring strength for chromonics, Phys. Rev. E 108, 064701 (2023), doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.108.064701.
7. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Spiralling defect cores in chromonic hedgehogs, Liq. Cryst. 50, 1498 (2023), doi: 10.1080/02678292.2023.2190626.
8. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, An Elastic Quartic Twist Theory for Chromonic Liquid Crystals, J Elast, 1173 (2023), doi: 10.1007/s10659-022-09983-4.
9. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Paradoxes for chromonic liquid crystal droplets, Phys. Rev. E 106, 044703 (2022), doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.106.044703.
10. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Stability Against the Odds: The Case of Chromonic Liquid Crystals, J Nonlinear Sci 32, 74 (2022), doi: 10.1007/s00332-022-09833-6.
11. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Shape Bistability in Squeezed Chromonic Droplets, J. Phys. Condens Matter 33, 495101 (2021), doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac2645.
12. S. Paparini and E. G. Virga, Nematic tactoid population, Phys. Rev. E 103, 022707 (2021), doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.103.022707.
Submitted Preprints:
1. S. Paparini, A Review on Phenomenological Models for Chromonic Liquid Crystals, arXiv:2509.03266 (2025), doi:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03266.
2. S. Paparini and E, G. Virga, Singular Damped Twist Waves in Chromonic Liquid Crystals, arXiv:2505.08023 (2025), doi: arxiv.org/abs/2505.08023.
Main Research Interests:
My research concerns the application of mechanics, analysis and topology to the mathematical understanding of soft matter. More precisely, my research deals with the mathematical modelling of liquid crystals (LCs) and Liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) in the quest to develop a deeper understanding of these fascinating areas of soft matter.
Specific topics of my research concern lyotropic systems, in particular chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) and F-actin solutions. These systems flow like liquids but retain orientational order due to the arrangement of their constituent molecules. Because of their sensitivity to external stimuli, they offer promising applications in both industry and life sciences. However, their unique properties present mathematical challenges at the interface between elasticity, analysis, and geometry. My work involves developing mathematical tools from calculus of variations, to determine energy-minimising configurations and analyse their stability, and topology, to investigate knotting structures. These tools are then employed to obtain continuum descriptions of complex patterns (often characterised by topological defects) displayed by LCs confined within fixed geometries, and LC droplets which are free to adjust their shape to their surrounding isotropic fluid, while their boundary bears an energy depending on the molecules’ orientation relative to the outer normal vector.
Another research topic addresses the dynamics of passive nematic LCs, and in particular twist waves in CLCs, which are solutions of the inertial Ericksen-Leslie hydrodynamic equations, for which the flow vanishes, and no extrinsic body forces or couples act on the system. Tools from partial differential equations are used to analyse the non-linear equation associated to twist-waves, and to prove that smooth solutions break down in a finite time, giving rise to the formation of a shock wave, under rather generic assumptions on the initial profile.
Recently, my research addressed the open question of modelling mathematically how LC disclinations and textures couple with the polymeric network in liquid crystalline networks (LCNs), which are stimuli-responsive materials formed from polymeric chains cross-linked with rod-like mesogenic segments, which, in the nematic phase, align along a non-polar director.