Reentrant transition to collective actuation in active solids with a polarizing field

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Baconnier, Paul, Aksil, Mathéo, Démery, Vincent, Dauchot, Olivier
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Baconnier, Paul
Aksil, Mathéo
Démery, Vincent
Dauchot, Olivier
author_facet Baconnier, Paul
Aksil, Mathéo
Démery, Vincent
Dauchot, Olivier
contents Collective actuation in active solids - the spontaneous coherent excitation of a few vibrational modes - emerges from a feedback between structural deformations and the orientation of active forces. It is an excellent candidate as a basic mechanism for oscillatory dynamics and regulation in dense living systems, and a better control over its onset would open new avenues in the life sciences. Combining model experiments, simulations and theory, we study the dynamics of such an active solid in the presence of an external field that polarizes the active forces. The experiments reveal a novel oscillatory regime absent at zero field. The theoretical analysis of a single agent demonstrates that the small field oscillations and the large field ones can be mapped onto the bounded and unbounded phase dynamics of a nonlinear pendulum. In the many agents case, the transition to collective actuation is promoted at low field, leading to a reentrant transition.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_08572
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reentrant transition to collective actuation in active solids with a polarizing field
Baconnier, Paul
Aksil, Mathéo
Démery, Vincent
Dauchot, Olivier
Soft Condensed Matter
Collective actuation in active solids - the spontaneous coherent excitation of a few vibrational modes - emerges from a feedback between structural deformations and the orientation of active forces. It is an excellent candidate as a basic mechanism for oscillatory dynamics and regulation in dense living systems, and a better control over its onset would open new avenues in the life sciences. Combining model experiments, simulations and theory, we study the dynamics of such an active solid in the presence of an external field that polarizes the active forces. The experiments reveal a novel oscillatory regime absent at zero field. The theoretical analysis of a single agent demonstrates that the small field oscillations and the large field ones can be mapped onto the bounded and unbounded phase dynamics of a nonlinear pendulum. In the many agents case, the transition to collective actuation is promoted at low field, leading to a reentrant transition.
title Reentrant transition to collective actuation in active solids with a polarizing field
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.08572