Role of Translational Noise in Motility-Induced Phase Separation of Hard Active Particles

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Autori principali: Hawthorne, Felipe, de Castro, Pablo, Freire, José A.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Hawthorne, Felipe
de Castro, Pablo
Freire, José A.
author_facet Hawthorne, Felipe
de Castro, Pablo
Freire, José A.
contents Self-propelled particles, like motile cells and artificial colloids, can spontaneously form macroscopic clusters. This phenomenon is called motility-induced phase separation (MIPS) and occurs even without attractive forces, provided that the self-propulsion direction fluctuates slowly. In addition to rotational noise, these particles may experience translational noise, not coupled to rotational noise, due to environmental fluctuations. We study the role of translational noise in the clustering of active Brownian hard disks. To tease apart the contribution of translational noise, we model excluded-volume interactions through a Monte-Carlo-like overlap rejection approach. We find that increasing translational diffusivity has a non-monotonic effect on clustering. At low values, it makes clusters more compact and rounded (less filamentous), eventually promoting genuine MIPS. For sufficiently higher translational diffusivity, clusters evaporate. We develop a theory for the cluster mass distribution, and employ a hydrodynamic approach with parameters taken from the simulation, that explains the clustering phase diagram.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_16536
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Role of Translational Noise in Motility-Induced Phase Separation of Hard Active Particles
Hawthorne, Felipe
de Castro, Pablo
Freire, José A.
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Self-propelled particles, like motile cells and artificial colloids, can spontaneously form macroscopic clusters. This phenomenon is called motility-induced phase separation (MIPS) and occurs even without attractive forces, provided that the self-propulsion direction fluctuates slowly. In addition to rotational noise, these particles may experience translational noise, not coupled to rotational noise, due to environmental fluctuations. We study the role of translational noise in the clustering of active Brownian hard disks. To tease apart the contribution of translational noise, we model excluded-volume interactions through a Monte-Carlo-like overlap rejection approach. We find that increasing translational diffusivity has a non-monotonic effect on clustering. At low values, it makes clusters more compact and rounded (less filamentous), eventually promoting genuine MIPS. For sufficiently higher translational diffusivity, clusters evaporate. We develop a theory for the cluster mass distribution, and employ a hydrodynamic approach with parameters taken from the simulation, that explains the clustering phase diagram.
title Role of Translational Noise in Motility-Induced Phase Separation of Hard Active Particles
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.16536