Biological and synthetic microswimmers display a wide range of swimming trajectories depending on driving forces and torques. In this paper we consider a simple overdamped model of self-propelled particles with a constant self-propulsion speed, but an angular velocity that varies in time. Specifically, we consider the case of both deterministic and stochastic angular velocity reversal, mimicking several synthetic active matter systems like propelled droplets. The orientational correlation function and effective diffusivity is studied using Langevin dynamics simulations and perturbative methods.
We study collective dynamical behavior of active particles with topological interactions and directional reversals. Surprising phenomena are shown to emerge as the interaction relaxation time is varied relative to the reversal rate, such as spontaneous formation of collective chiral states due to phase synchronization, and collective directional reversals in the presence of confinement. The results have a direct relevance to modelling and understanding collective reversals and synchronization phenomena in active matter.
Moving against the odds with a cyclic active Brownian ratchet: current enhancement and reversal
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization（马克斯·普朗克动力学与自组织研究所）；Institute for the Dynamics of Complex Systems, University of Göttingen（哥廷根大学复杂系统动力学研究所）；Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), Université de Montpellier, CNRS（蒙彼利埃大学查尔斯·库隆实验室（L2C），法国国家科学研究中心）
Active fluids, which are driven at the microscale by non-conservative forces, are known to exhibit novel transport phenomena due to the breaking of time reversal symmetry. Recently, Epstein and Mandadapu [arXiv:1907.10041] obtained Green-Kubo relations for the full set of viscous coefficients governing isotropic chiral active fluids, including the so-called odd viscosity, invoking Onsager's regression hypothesis for the decay of fluctuations in active non-equilibrium steady states. In this Communication, we test these Green-Kubo relations using molecular dynamics simulations of a canonical mod…
We investigate the steady-state entropy production rate (EPR) in the Hydrodynamic Vicsek Model (HVM) and Diffusive Flocking Model (DFM). Both models display a transition from an isotropic gas to a polar liquid (flocking) phase, in addition to traveling polar clusters and microphase-separation in the miscibility gap. The phase diagram of the DFM, which may be considered an extension of the HVM, contains additional structure at low densities where we find a novel crystal phase in which a stationary hexagonal lattice of high-density ridges surround low density valleys. From an assessment of the s…
We present a Brownian inchworm model of a self-propelled elastic dimer in the absence of an external potential. Nonequilibrium noise together with a stretch-dependent damping form the propulsion mechanism. Our model connects three key nonequilibrium features -- position-velocity correlations, a nonzero mean internal force, and a drift velocity. Our analytical results, including striking current reversals, compare very well with numerical simulations. The model unifies the propulsion mechanisms of DNA helicases, polar rods on a vibrated surface, crawling keratocytes and Myosin VI. We suggest ex…
Using computer simulations, we study a two-dimensional system of sterically interacting self-mobile run-and-tumble disk-shaped particles with an underlying periodic quasi-one-dimensional asymmetric substrate, and show that a rich variety of collective active ratchet behaviors arise as a function of particle density, activity, substrate strength, and substrate period. The ratchet efficiency is nonmonotonic since the ratcheting is enhanced by increased activity but diminished by the onset of self-clustering of the active particles. Increasing the particle density decreases the ratchet efficiency…
Active Brownian motion with intermittent direction reversals are common in a class of bacteria like {\it Myxococcus xanthus} and {\it Pseudomonas putida}. We show that, for such a motion in two dimensions, the presence of the two time scales set by the rotational diffusion constant $D_R$ and the reversal rate $γ$ gives rise to four distinct dynamical regimes: (I) $t\ll \min (γ^{-1}, D_R^{-1}),$ (II) $γ^{-1}\ll t\ll D_R^{-1}$, (III) $D_R^{-1} \ll t \ll γ^{-1}$, and (IV) $t\gg \max (γ^{-1}$, $D_R^{-1})$, showing distinct behaviors. We characterize these behaviors by analytically computing the po…
The defining feature of active particles is that they constantly propel themselves by locally converting chemical energy into directed motion. This active self-propulsion prevents them from equilibrating with their thermal environment (e.g., an aqueous solution), thus keeping them permanently out of equilibrium. Nevertheless, the spatial dynamics of active particles might share certain equilibrium features, in particular in the steady state. We here focus on the time-reversal symmetry of individual spatial trajectories as a distinct equilibrium characteristic. We investigate to what extent the…
It is known that purely repulsive self-propelled colloids can undergo bulk liquid-vapor phase separation. In experiments and large scale simulations, however, more complex steady states are also seen, comprising a dynamic population of dense clusters in a sea of vapor, or dilute bubbles in a liquid. Here we show that these microphase-separated states should emerge generically in active matter, without any need to invoke system-specific details. We give a coarse-grained description of them, and predict transitions between regimes of bulk phase separation and microphase separation. We achieve th…
We consider a dynamical field theory (Active Model B+) that minimally extends the equilibrium Model B for diffusive phase separation of a scalar field, by adding leading-order terms that break time-reversal symmetry. It was recently shown that such active terms can cause the bulk phase separation of Model B to be replaced by a steady state of microphase separation at a finite length scale. This phenomenon was understood at mean-field level as due to the activity-induced reversal of the Ostwald ripening mechanism, which provides the kinetic pathway to bulk phase separation in passive fluids. Th…
The continued increase in areal densities in magnetic recording makes it crucial to understand magnetization reversal in nanoparticles. We present finite-temperature micromagnetic simulations of hysteresis in Fe nanopillars with the long axis tilted at angles from 0 degrees to 90 degrees to the applied sinusoidal field. The field period is 15 ns, and the particle size is 9 x 9 x 150 nm. The system is discretized into a rectangular pillar of 7 x 7 x 101 spins each with uniform magnetization. At low angles, reversal begins at the endcaps and proceeds toward the center of the particle. At ninety …
Active matter systems operate far from equilibrium due to the continuous energy injection at the scale of constituent particles. At larger scales, described by coarse-grained models, the global entropy production rate S quantifies the probability ratio of forward and reversed dynamics and hence the importance of irreversibility at such scales: it vanishes whenever the coarse-grained dynamics of the active system reduces to that of an effective equilibrium model. We evaluate S for a class of scalar stochastic field theories describing the coarse-grained density of self-propelled particles witho…
We study steady-state properties of a suspension of active, nonchiral and chiral, Brownian particles with polar alignment and steric interactions confined within a ring-shaped (annulus) confinement in two dimensions. Exploring possible interplays between polar interparticle alignment, geometric confinement and the surface curvature, being incorporated here on minimal levels, we report a surface-population reversal effect, whereby active particles migrate from the outer concave boundary of the annulus to accumulate on its inner convex boundary. This contrasts the conventional picture, implying …
Time-reversal symmetry breaking and entropy production are universal features of nonequilibrium phenomena. Despite its importance in the physics of active and living systems, the entropy production of systems with many degrees of freedom has remained of little practical significance because the high-dimensionality of their state space makes it difficult to measure. Here we introduce a local measure of entropy production and a numerical protocol to estimate it. We establish a connection between the entropy production and extractability of work in a given region of the system and show how this q…
We study self-propelled particles with velocity reversal interacting by uniaxial (nematic) alignment within a coarse-grained hydrodynamic theory. Combining analytical and numerical continuation techniques, we show that the physics of this active system is essentially controlled by the reversal frequency. In particular, we find that elongated, high-density, ordered patterns, called bands, emerge via subcritical bifurcations from spatially homogeneous states. Our analysis reveals further that the interaction of bands is weakly attractive and, consequently, bands fuse upon collision in analogy wi…
We study the two-dimensional motion of an active Brownian particle of speed $v_0$, with intermittent directional reversals in the presence of a harmonic trap of strength $μ$. The presence of the trap ensures that the position of the particle eventually reaches a steady state where it is bounded within a circular region of radius $v_0/μ$, centered at the minimum of the trap. Due to the interplay between the rotational diffusion constant $D_R$, reversal rate $γ$, and the trap strength $μ$, the steady state distribution shows four different types of shapes, which we refer to as active-I & II, and…
Sorting of microswimmers based on their mobility properties is of utmost importance for various branches of science and engineering. In this paper, we proposed a novel sorting method, where the mixed chiral particles can be separated by applying two opposite rotary obstacles. It is found that when the angular speed of the obstacles, the angular speed of active particles and the self-propulsion speed satisfy a certain relation, the mixed particles can be completely separated and the capture efficiency takes its maximal value. Our results may have application in capture or sorting of chiral acti…
We investigate the stochastic dynamics of an active particle moving at a constant speed under the influence of a fluctuating torque. In our model the angular velocity is generated by a constant torque and random fluctuations described as a Lévy-stable noise. Two situations are investigated. First, we study white Lévy noise where the constant speed and the angular noise generate a persistent motion characterized by the persistence time $τ_D$. At this time scale the crossover from ballistic to normal diffusive behavior is observed. The corresponding diffusion coefficient can be obtained analytic…
We study the rectified transport of underdamped active noninteracting particles in an asymmetric periodic potential. It is found that the ratchet effect of active noninteracting particles occurs in a single direction (along the easy direction of the substrate asymmetry) in the overdamped limit. However, when the inertia is considered, it is possible to observe reversals of the ratchet effect, where the motion is along the hard direction of the substrate asymmetry. By changing the friction coefficient or the self-propulsion force, the average velocity can change its direction several times. The…
We present in detail a Langevin formalism for constructing stochastic dynamical equations for active-matter systems coupled to a thermal bath. We apply the formalism to clarify issues of principle regarding the sources and signatures of nonequilibrium behaviour in a variety of polar and apolar single-particle systems and polar flocks. We show that distance from thermal equilibrium depends on how time-reversal is implemented and hence on the reference equilibrium state. We predict characteristic forms for the frequency-resolved entropy production for an active polar particle in a harmonic poten…
Hardly any real self-propelling or actively driven object is perfect. Thus, undisturbed motion will generally not follow straight lines but rather circular trajectories. We here address self-propelled or actively driven objects that move in discrete steps and additionally tempt to migrate towards a certain direction by discrete angular adjustment. Overreaction in the angular alignment is possible. This competition implies pronounced nonlinear dynamics including period doubling and chaotic behavior in a broad parameter regime. Such behavior directly affects the appearance of the trajectories, a…
