Filamentous Active Matter: Band Formation, Bending, Buckling, and Defects

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Vliegenthart, Gerrit, Ravichandran, Arvind, Ripoll, Marisol, Auth, Thorsten, Gompper, Gerhard
Format: Preprint
Published: 2019
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author Vliegenthart, Gerrit
Ravichandran, Arvind
Ripoll, Marisol
Auth, Thorsten
Gompper, Gerhard
author_facet Vliegenthart, Gerrit
Ravichandran, Arvind
Ripoll, Marisol
Auth, Thorsten
Gompper, Gerhard
contents Motor proteins drive persistent motion and self-organisation of cytoskeletal filaments. However, state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and continuum modelling approaches focus on large length and time scales. Here, we perform component-based computer simulations of polar filaments and molecular motors linking microscopic interactions and activity to self-organisation and dynamics from the two-filament level up to the mesoscopic domain level. Dynamic filament crosslinking and sliding, and excluded-volume interactions promote formation of bundles at small densities, and of active polar nematics at high densities. A buckling-type instability sets the size of polar domains and the density of topological defects. We predict a universal scaling of the active diffusion coefficient and the domain size with activity, and its dependence on parameters like motor concentration and filament persistence length. Our results provide a microscopic understanding of cytoplasmic streaming in cells and help to develop design strategies for novel engineered active materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1902_07904
institution arXiv
publishDate 2019
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Filamentous Active Matter: Band Formation, Bending, Buckling, and Defects
Vliegenthart, Gerrit
Ravichandran, Arvind
Ripoll, Marisol
Auth, Thorsten
Gompper, Gerhard
Soft Condensed Matter
Motor proteins drive persistent motion and self-organisation of cytoskeletal filaments. However, state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and continuum modelling approaches focus on large length and time scales. Here, we perform component-based computer simulations of polar filaments and molecular motors linking microscopic interactions and activity to self-organisation and dynamics from the two-filament level up to the mesoscopic domain level. Dynamic filament crosslinking and sliding, and excluded-volume interactions promote formation of bundles at small densities, and of active polar nematics at high densities. A buckling-type instability sets the size of polar domains and the density of topological defects. We predict a universal scaling of the active diffusion coefficient and the domain size with activity, and its dependence on parameters like motor concentration and filament persistence length. Our results provide a microscopic understanding of cytoplasmic streaming in cells and help to develop design strategies for novel engineered active materials.
title Filamentous Active Matter: Band Formation, Bending, Buckling, and Defects
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.07904