Backflow effects in p-atic liquid crystals

We investigate the effects of hydrodynamics on the motion of topological defects in p-atic liquid crystals: i.e. two-dimensional liquid crystals characterised by p-fold rotational symmetry, of which nematics p=2 and hexatics p=6 are the best known examples. We find that the strong distortion originating from the defects sources a flow, which, in turn, can lead to the defects' propulsion, provided their topological charge is given by s = (p-1)/p. Furthermore, we find that hydrodynamics can accelerate the annihilation dynamics of pairs of ±1/p defects and that this effect increases with p before approaching a plateau.