We revisit motility-induced phase separation in two models of active particles interacting by pairwise repulsion. We show that the resulting dense phase contains gas bubbles distributed algebraically up to a typically large cutoff scale. At large enough system size and/or global density, all the gas may be contained inside the bubbles, at which point the system is microphase-separated with a finite cut-off bubble scale. We observe that the ordering is anomalous, with different dynamics for the coarsening of the dense phase and of the gas bubbles. This phenomenology is reproduced by a "reduced bubble model" that implements the basic idea of reverse Ostwald ripening put forward in Tjhung et al. [Phys. Rev. X 8, 031080 (2018)].
We investigate motility-induced phase separation of active Brownian particles, which are modeled as purely repulsive spheres that move due to a constant swim force with freely diffusing orientation. We develop on the basis of power functional concepts an analytical theory for nonequilibrium phase coexistence and interfacial structure. Theoretical predictions are validated against Brownian dynamics computer simulations. We show that the internal one-body force field has four nonequilibrium contributions: (i) isotropic drag and (ii) interfacial drag forces against the forward motion, (iii) a sup…
The superfluid-crystal quantum phase transition of a system of purely repulsive dipolar bosons in two dimensions is studied by Quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature. We determine freezing and melting densities, and estimate the energy per unit length of a macroscopic interface separating the two phases. The results rule out the microemulsion scenario for any physical realization of this system, given the exceedingly large predicted size of the bubbles.
We redraw, using state-of-the-art methods for free-energy calculations, the phase diagrams of two reference models for the liquid state: the Gaussian and inverse-power-law repulsive potentials. Notwithstanding the different behavior of the two potentials for vanishing interparticle distances, their thermodynamic properties are similar in a range of densities and temperatures, being ruled by the competition between the body-centered-cubic (BCC) and face-centered-cubic (FCC) crystalline structures and the fluid phase. We confirm the existence of a reentrant BCC phase in the phase diagram of the …
Contact Forces in Motility-Regulated Active Matter
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）
The phase diagram of two-dimensional continuous particle systems is studied using Event-Chain Monte Carlo. For soft disks with repulsive power-law interactions $\propto r^{-n}$ with $n \gtrsim 6$, the recently established hard-disk melting scenario ($n \to \infty$) holds: a first-order liquid-hexatic and a continuous hexatic-solid transition are identified. Close to $n = 6$, the coexisting liquid exhibits very long orientational correlations, and positional correlations in the hexatic are extremely short. For $n\lesssim 6$, the liquid-hexatic transition is continuous, with correlations consist…
As a result of the competition between self-propulsion and excluded volume interactions, purely repulsive self-propelled spherical particles undergo a motility-induced phase separation (MIPS). We carry out a systematic computational study, considering several interaction potentials, systems confined by hard walls or with periodic boundary conditions, and different initial protocols. This approach allows us to identify that, despite its non-equilibrium nature, the equations of state of Active Brownian Particles (ABP) across MIPS verify the characteristic properties of first-order liquid-gas pha…
Self-organized criticality elucidates the conditions under which physical and biological systems tune themselves to the edge of a second-order phase transition, with scale invariance. Motivated by the empirical observation of bimodal distributions of activity in neuroscience and other fields, we propose and analyze a theory for the self-organization to the point of phase-coexistence in systems exhibiting a first-order phase transition. It explains the emergence of regular avalanches with attributes of scale-invariance which coexist with huge anomalous ones, with realizations in many fields.
We consider binary mixtures of soft repulsive spherical particles and calculate the depletion interaction between two big spheres mediated by the fluid of small spheres, using different theoretical and simulation methods. The validity of the theoretical approach, a virial expansion in terms of the density of the small spheres, is checked against simulation results. Attention is given to the approach toward the hard-sphere limit, and to the effect of density and temperature on the strength of the depletion potential. Our results indicate, surprisingly, that even a modest degree of softness in t…
Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse-graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically…
Motility-induced phase separation (MIPS), the phenomenon in which purely repulsive active particles undergo a liquid-gas phase separation, is among the simplest and most widely studied examples of a nonequilibrium phase transition. Here, we show that states of MIPS coexistence are in fact only metastable for three-dimensional active Brownian particles over a very broad range of conditions, decaying at long times through an ordering transition we call active crystallization. At an activity just above the MIPS critical point, the liquid-gas binodal is superseded by the crystal-fluid coexistence …
The statistical mechanics of phase transitions in dense systems of polydisperse particles presents distinctive challenges to computer simulation and analytical theory alike. The core difficulty, namely dealing correctly with particle size fractionation between coexisting phases, is set out in the context of a critique of previous simulation work on such systems. Specialized Monte Carlo simulation techniques and moment free energy method calculations, capable of treating fractionation exactly, are then described and deployed to study the fluid-solid transition of an assembly of repulsive spheri…
We study the coexistence of phases in a two--species model whose free energy is given by the scaling limit of a system with long range interactions (Kac potentials) which are attractive between particles of the same species and repulsive between different species.
The stationary states of systems with many molecular motors are studied theoretically for uniaxial and centered (aster-like) arrangements of cytoskeletal filaments using Monte Carlo simulations and a two-state model. Mutual exclusion of motors from binding sites of the filaments is taken into account. For small overall motor concentration, the density profiles are exponential and algebraic in uniaxial and centered filament systems, respectively. For uniaxial systems, exclusion leads to the coexistence of regions of high and low densities of bound motors corresponding to motor traffic jams, whi…
We study the gas-liquid phase diagram and the crossover behavior of a simple model of ionic fluid: an equimolar binary mixture of equisized hard spheres interacting through screened Coulomb potentials which are repulsive between particles of the same species and attractive between particles of different species. Using our previous results, we obtain explicit expressions for the relevant coefficients of the effective $φ^{4}$ Ginzburg-Landau Hamiltonian in a one-loop approximation. Within the framework of this approximation, we calculate the critical parameters and gas-liquid coexistence curves …
Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study a spherically-symmetric ``two-scale'' Jagla potential with both repulsive and attractive ramps. This potential displays a liquid-liquid phase transition with a positively sloped coexistence line ending at critical point well above the equilibrium melting line. We study the dynamic behavior in the vicinity of this liquid-liquid critical point. We find that the dynamics in the more ordered high density phase (HDL) are much slower then the dynamics in the less ordered low density phase (LDL). Moreover, the behavior of the diffusion constant and relax…
We present a numerical study of the phase behavior of repulsively interacting active polar particles that align their active velocities nematically. The amplitude of the active velocity, and the noise in its orientational alignment control the active nature of the system. At high values of orientational noise, the structural fluid undergoes a continuous nematic-isotropic transition in active orientation. This transition is well separated from an active phase separation, characterized by the formation of high density hexatic clusters, observed at lower noise strengths. With increasing activity,…
I evaluate the thermodynamic curvature $R$ for fourteen pure fluids along their liquid-vapor coexistence curves, from the critical point to the triple point, using thermodynamic input from the NIST Chemistry WebBook. In this broad overview, $R$ is evaluated in both the coexisting liquid and vapor phases. $R$ is an invariant whose magnitude $|R|$ is a measure of the size of mesoscopic organized structures in a fluid, and whose sign specifies whether intermolecular interactions are effectively attractive ($R<0$) or repulsive ($R>0$). I discuss five principles for $R$ in pure fluids: 1) near the …
Using density functional theory we calculate the density profiles of a binary solvent adsorbed around a pair of big solute particles. All species interact via repulsive Gaussian potentials. The solvent exhibits fluid-fluid phase separation and for thermodynamic states near to coexistence the big particles can be surrounded by a thick adsorbed `wetting' film of the coexisting solvent phase. On reducing the separation between the two big particles we find there can be a `bridging' transition as the wetting films join to form a fluid bridge. The potential between the two big particles becomes lon…
Active matter research focuses on the emergent behavior among interacting self-propelled particles. Unification of seemingly disconnected paradigms -- active phase-separation of repulsive discs and collective motion of self-propelled rods -- is a major challenge in contemporary active matter. Inspired by the quanto-mechanical wave-particle duality, we develop an approach based on the representation of active particles by smoothed continuum fields. On the basis of the collision kinetics, we demonstrate analytically and numerically how nonequilibrium stresses acting among self-driven, anisotropi…
We study the liquid-gas phase separation observed in a system of repulsive particles dressed with ferromagnetically aligning spins, a so-called `spin fluid'. Microcanonical ensemble numerical simulations of finite-size systems reveal that magnetization sets in and induces a liquid-gas phase separation between a disordered gas and a ferromagnetic dense phase at low enough energies and large enough densities. The dynamics after a quench into the coexistence region show that the order parameter associated to the liquid-vapour phase separation follows an algebraic law with an unusual exponent, as …
Active Brownian particles display self-propelled movement, which can be modelled as arising from a one-body force. Although their interparticle interactions are purely repulsive, for strong self propulsion the swimmers phase separate into dilute and dense phases. We describe in detail a recent theory (Phys. Rev. E 100, 052604 (2019); Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 26802 (2019)) for such motility induced phase-separation. Starting from the continuity equation and the force density balance, the description is based on four superadiabatic contributions to the internal force density. Here the superadiabati…
We present a simple discrete model for the non-linear spatial interaction of different kinds of ``subpopulations'' composed of identical moving entities like particles, bacteria, individuals, etc. The model allows to mimic a variety of self-organized agglomeration and segregation phenomena. By relating it to game-theoretical ideas, it can be applied not only to attractive and repulsive interactions in physical and chemical systems, but also to the much richer combinations of positive and negative interactions found in biological and socio-economic systems. Apart from investigating symmetric in…
We study the phase diagram of a system of spherical particles interacting in three dimensions through a potential consisting of a strict hard core plus a linear repulsive shoulder at larger distances. The phase diagram (obtained numerically, and analytically in a limiting case) shows anomalous properties that are similar to those observed in water. Specifically, we find maxima of density and isothermal compressibility as a function of temperature, melting with volume contraction, and multiple stable crystalline structures. If in addition a long range attraction between the particles is include…
