Polarization and dynamic phases of aligning active matter in periodic obstacle arrays

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Canavello, Daniel, Reichhardt, C., Reichhardt, C. J. O, Silva, Clécio C. de Souza
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866909512249638912
author Canavello, Daniel
Reichhardt, C.
Reichhardt, C. J. O
Silva, Clécio C. de Souza
author_facet Canavello, Daniel
Reichhardt, C.
Reichhardt, C. J. O
Silva, Clécio C. de Souza
contents We numerically examine a system of monodisperse self-propelled particles interacting with each other via simple steric forces and aligning torques moving through a periodic array of obstacles. Without obstacles, this system shows a transition to a polarized or aligned state for critical alignment parameters. In the presence of obstacles, there is still a polarization transition, but for dense enough arrays, the polarization is locked to the symmetry directions of the substrate. When the obstacle array is made anisotropic, at low densities the particles can form a quasi-isotropic state where the system can be polarized in any of the dominant symmetry directions. For intermediate anisotropy, the particles self-organize into a coherent lane state with one-dimensional polarization. In this phase, a small number of highly packed lanes are adjacent to less dense lanes that have the same polarization, but lanes further away can have the opposite polarization, so that global polarization is lost. For the highest anisotropy, hopping between lanes is suppressed, and the system forms uniformly dense uncoupled but polarized lanes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_16882
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Polarization and dynamic phases of aligning active matter in periodic obstacle arrays
Canavello, Daniel
Reichhardt, C.
Reichhardt, C. J. O
Silva, Clécio C. de Souza
Soft Condensed Matter
We numerically examine a system of monodisperse self-propelled particles interacting with each other via simple steric forces and aligning torques moving through a periodic array of obstacles. Without obstacles, this system shows a transition to a polarized or aligned state for critical alignment parameters. In the presence of obstacles, there is still a polarization transition, but for dense enough arrays, the polarization is locked to the symmetry directions of the substrate. When the obstacle array is made anisotropic, at low densities the particles can form a quasi-isotropic state where the system can be polarized in any of the dominant symmetry directions. For intermediate anisotropy, the particles self-organize into a coherent lane state with one-dimensional polarization. In this phase, a small number of highly packed lanes are adjacent to less dense lanes that have the same polarization, but lanes further away can have the opposite polarization, so that global polarization is lost. For the highest anisotropy, hopping between lanes is suppressed, and the system forms uniformly dense uncoupled but polarized lanes.
title Polarization and dynamic phases of aligning active matter in periodic obstacle arrays
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.16882