Q-Tensor Continuum Energies as Limits of Head-to-Tail Symmetric Spin Systems

We consider a class of spin-type discrete systems and analyze their continuum limit as the lattice spacing goes to zero. Under standard coerciveness and growth assumptions together with an additional head-to-tail symmetry condition, we observe that this limit can be conveniently written as a functional in the space of Q -tensors. We further characterize the limit energy density in several cases (both in 2 and 3 dimensions). In the planar case we also develop a second-order theory and we derive gradient or concentration-type models according to the chosen scaling.