scholarly journals Oscillating collective motion of active rotors in confinement

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (22) ◽  
pp. 11901-11907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Liu ◽  
Hongwei Zhu ◽  
Ying Zeng ◽  
Guangle Du ◽  
Luhui Ning ◽  
...  

Due to its inherent out-of-equilibrium nature, active matter in confinement may exhibit collective behavior absent in unconfined systems. Extensive studies have indicated that hydrodynamic or steric interactions between active particles and boundary play an important role in the emergence of collective behavior. However, besides introducing external couplings at the single-particle level, the confinement also induces an inhomogeneous density distribution due to particle-position correlations, whose effect on collective behavior remains unclear. Here, we investigate this effect in a minimal chiral active matter composed of self-spinning rotors through simulation, experiment, and theory. We find that the density inhomogeneity leads to a position-dependent frictional stress that results from interrotor friction and couples the spin to the translation of the particles, which can then drive a striking spatially oscillating collective motion of the chiral active matter along the confinement boundary. Moreover, depending on the oscillation properties, the collective behavior has three different modes as the packing fraction varies. The structural origins of the transitions between the different modes are well identified by the percolation of solid-like regions or the occurrence of defect-induced particle rearrangement. Our results thus show that the confinement-induced inhomogeneity, dynamic structure, and compressibility have significant influences on collective behavior of active matter and should be properly taken into account.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugues Chaté

Active matter physics is about systems in which energy is dissipated at some local level to produce work. This is a generic situation, particularly in the living world but not only. What is at stake is the understanding of the fascinating, sometimes counterintuitive, emerging phenomena observed, from collective motion in animal groups to in vitro dynamical self-organization of motor proteins and biofilaments. Dry aligning dilute active matter (DADAM) is a corner of the multidimensional, fast-growing domain of active matter that has both historical and theoretical importance for the entire field. This restrictive setting only involves self-propulsion/activity, alignment, and noise, yet unexpected collective properties can emerge from it. This review provides a personal but synthetic and coherent overview of DADAM, focusing on the collective-level phenomenology of simple active particle models representing basic classes of systems and on the solutions of the continuous hydrodynamic theories that can be derived from them. The obvious fact that orientational order is advected by the aligning active particles at play is shown to be at the root of the most striking properties of DADAM systems: ( a) direct transitions to orientational order are not observed; ( b) instead generic phase separation occurs with a coexistence phase involving inhomogeneous nonlinear structures; ( c) orientational order, which can be long range even in two dimensions, is accompanied by long-range correlations and anomalous fluctuations; ( d) defects are not point-like, topologically bound objects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Großmann ◽  
Igor S. Aranson ◽  
Fernando Peruani

Abstract Whereas self-propelled hard discs undergo motility-induced phase separation, self-propelled rods exhibit a variety of nonequilibrium phenomena, including clustering, collective motion, and spatio-temporal chaos. In this work, we present a theoretical framework representing active particles by continuum fields. This concept combines the simplicity of alignment-based models, enabling analytical studies, and realistic models that incorporate the shape of self-propelled objects explicitly. By varying particle shape from circular to ellipsoidal, we show how nonequilibrium stresses acting among self-propelled rods destabilize motility-induced phase separation and facilitate orientational ordering, thereby connecting the realms of scalar and vectorial active matter. Though the interaction potential is strictly apolar, both, polar and nematic order may emerge and even coexist. Accordingly, the symmetry of ordered states is a dynamical property in active matter. The presented framework may represent various systems including bacterial colonies, cytoskeletal extracts, or shaken granular media.


Soft Matter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 2652-2663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Speck

Large-scale collective behavior in suspensions of active particles can be understood from the balance of statistical forces emerging beyond the direct microscopic particle interactions.


Soft Matter ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (44) ◽  
pp. 8946-8950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Klotsa

What is the collective behavior of mesoscopic (size ≈ 0.5 mm–50 cm) organisms/robots that swim or fly, such as plankton and small insects? In this perspective article we discuss the importance of studying active matter in fluids with finite inertia.


Author(s):  
Pulak Kumar Ghosh ◽  
Fabio Marchesoni ◽  
Yunyun Li ◽  
Franco Nori

Undesired advection effects are unavoidable in most nano-technological applications involving active matter. However, it is conceivable to govern the transport of active particles at the small scales by suitably tuning...


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander D M Wilson ◽  
Alicia L J Burns ◽  
Emanuele Crosato ◽  
Joseph Lizier ◽  
Mikhail Prokopenko ◽  
...  

Abstract Animal groups are often composed of individuals that vary according to behavioral, morphological, and internal state parameters. Understanding the importance of such individual-level heterogeneity to the establishment and maintenance of coherent group responses is of fundamental interest in collective behavior. We examined the influence of hunger on the individual and collective behavior of groups of shoaling fish, x-ray tetras (Pristella maxillaris). Fish were assigned to one of two nutritional states, satiated or hungry, and then allocated to 5 treatments that represented different ratios of satiated to hungry individuals (8 hungry, 8 satiated, 4:4 hungry:satiated, 2:6 hungry:satiated, 6:2 hungry:satiated). Our data show that groups with a greater proportion of hungry fish swam faster and exhibited greater nearest neighbor distances. Within groups, however, there was no difference in the swimming speeds of hungry versus well-fed fish, suggesting that group members conform and adapt their swimming speed according to the overall composition of the group. We also found significant differences in mean group transfer entropy, suggesting stronger patterns of information flow in groups comprising all, or a majority of, hungry individuals. In contrast, we did not observe differences in polarization, a measure of group alignment, within groups across treatments. Taken together these results demonstrate that the nutritional state of animals within social groups impacts both individual and group behavior, and that members of heterogenous groups can adapt their behavior to facilitate coherent collective motion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Grauer ◽  
Falko Schmidt ◽  
Jesús Pineda ◽  
Benjamin Midtvedt ◽  
Hartmut Löwen ◽  
...  

AbstractActive matter comprises self-driven units, such as bacteria and synthetic microswimmers, that can spontaneously form complex patterns and assemble into functional microdevices. These processes are possible thanks to the out-of-equilibrium nature of active-matter systems, fueled by a one-way free-energy flow from the environment into the system. Here, we take the next step in the evolution of active matter by realizing a two-way coupling between active particles and their environment, where active particles act back on the environment giving rise to the formation of superstructures. In experiments and simulations we observe that, under light-illumination, colloidal particles and their near-critical environment create mutually-coupled co-evolving structures. These structures unify in the form of active superstructures featuring a droplet shape and a colloidal engine inducing self-propulsion. We call them active droploids—a portmanteau of droplet and colloids. Our results provide a pathway to create active superstructures through environmental feedback.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (18) ◽  
pp. 9706-9711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koohee Han ◽  
Gašper Kokot ◽  
Oleh Tovkach ◽  
Andreas Glatz ◽  
Igor S. Aranson ◽  
...  

Active matter, both synthetic and biological, demonstrates complex spatiotemporal self-organization and the emergence of collective behavior. A coherent rotational motion, the vortex phase, is of great interest because of its ability to orchestrate well-organized motion of self-propelled particles over large distances. However, its generation without geometrical confinement has been a challenge. Here, we show by experiments and computational modeling that concentrated magnetic rollers self-organize into multivortex states in an unconfined environment. We find that the neighboring vortices more likely occur with the opposite sense of rotation. Our studies provide insights into the mechanism for the emergence of coherent collective motion on the macroscale from the coupling between microscale rotation and translation of individual active elements. These results may stimulate design strategies for self-assembled dynamic materials and microrobotics.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
Jun Huang ◽  
Fan-hua Meng ◽  
Teng-Chao Li ◽  
Bao-quan Ai

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gasper Kokot ◽  
Hammad Faizi ◽  
Gerardo Pradillo ◽  
Alexey Snezhko ◽  
Petia Vlahovska

Abstract Active particles, such as swimming bacteria or self-propelled colloids, spontaneously assemble into large-scale dynamic structures. Geometric boundaries often enforce different spatio-temporal patterns compared to unconfined environment and thus provide a platform to control the behavior of active matter. Here, we report collective dynamics of active particles enclosed by soft, deformable boundaries, that is responsive to the particles' activity. We reveal that a fluid droplet enclosing motile colloids powered by the Quincke effect (Quincke rollers) exhibits strong shape fluctuations, and while the rollers do self-organize into a single vortex, it fills the droplet interior. We demonstrate that the shape fluctuations have a power spectrum consistent with active fluctuations driven by particle-interface collisions, and a broken detailed balance confirms the nonequilibrium nature of the shape dynamics. We further find that the rollers activity coupled to soft boundary fluctuations can result in a spontaneous symmetry breaking and vortex splitting. The droplet acquires motility while the vortex doublet exists. Our findings provide insights into the complex collective behavior of active colloidal suspensions in soft confinement.


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