Collective rotations of active particles interacting with obstacles

We consider active particles in a heterogeneous medium, modeled by static, random obstacles. In accordance with the known tendency of active particles to cluster, we observe accumulation and crystallization of active particles around the obstacles which serve as nucleation sites. In the limit of hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEurophysics letters Vol. 120; no. 1; pp. 14001 - 14007
Main Authors Mokhtari, Zahra, Aspelmeier, Timo, Zippelius, Annette
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Les Ulis EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and Società Italiana di Fisica 01.10.2017
IOP Publishing
Subjects
05.40.-a
47.63.Gd
87.18.Hf
Barriers
Crystallization
Nucleation
Rigid structures
Rotating bodies
Rotation
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Summary:We consider active particles in a heterogeneous medium, modeled by static, random obstacles. In accordance with the known tendency of active particles to cluster, we observe accumulation and crystallization of active particles around the obstacles which serve as nucleation sites. In the limit of high activity, the crystals start to rotate spontaneously, resembling a rotating rigid body. We trace the occurrence of these oscillations to the enhanced attraction of particles whose orientation points along the rotational velocity as compared to those whose orientation points in the opposite direction.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/80W-R82GXV6J-7
istex:42E9E38A52A3F90AB0B70AB4F52F93DC34FF0283
publisher-ID:epl18853
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854
DOI:10.1209/0295-5075/120/14001