On minimizers of the 2D Ginzburg–Landau energy with tangential anchoring

We analyze Ginzburg–Landau minimization problems in two dimensions with either a “strong or weak” tangential boundary condition. These problems are motivated by experiments in liquid crystals with boundary defects. The imposition of classical boundary conditions on a liquid crystal surface is referred to as “strong anchoring”, while “weak anchoring” refers to the inclusion of boundary energy terms. In the singular limit when the correlation length tends to zero, we show that boundary defects will be observed for weak anchoring, while both boundary and interior vortices are possible for strong anchoring.