Phase separation in a mixture of proliferating and motile active matter

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hupe, Lukas, Materska, Joanna M., Zwicker, David, Golestanian, Ramin, Waclaw, Bartlomiej, Bittihn, Philip
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hupe, Lukas
Materska, Joanna M.
Zwicker, David
Golestanian, Ramin
Waclaw, Bartlomiej
Bittihn, Philip
author_facet Hupe, Lukas
Materska, Joanna M.
Zwicker, David
Golestanian, Ramin
Waclaw, Bartlomiej
Bittihn, Philip
contents Proliferation and motility are ubiquitous drivers of activity in biological systems. Here, we study a dense binary mixture of motile and proliferating particles with exclusively repulsive interactions, where homeostasis in the proliferating subpopulation is maintained by pressure-induced removal. Using computer simulations, we show that phase separation emerges naturally in this system at high density and weak enough self-propulsion. We show that condensation is caused by interactions between motile particles induced by the growing phase, and recapitulate this behavior in an effective model of only motile particles with attractive interactions. Our results establish a new type of phase transition and pave a way to reinterpret the physics of dense cellular populations, such as bacterial colonies or tumors, as systems of mixed active matter.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_05288
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Phase separation in a mixture of proliferating and motile active matter
Hupe, Lukas
Materska, Joanna M.
Zwicker, David
Golestanian, Ramin
Waclaw, Bartlomiej
Bittihn, Philip
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Biological Physics
Proliferation and motility are ubiquitous drivers of activity in biological systems. Here, we study a dense binary mixture of motile and proliferating particles with exclusively repulsive interactions, where homeostasis in the proliferating subpopulation is maintained by pressure-induced removal. Using computer simulations, we show that phase separation emerges naturally in this system at high density and weak enough self-propulsion. We show that condensation is caused by interactions between motile particles induced by the growing phase, and recapitulate this behavior in an effective model of only motile particles with attractive interactions. Our results establish a new type of phase transition and pave a way to reinterpret the physics of dense cellular populations, such as bacterial colonies or tumors, as systems of mixed active matter.
title Phase separation in a mixture of proliferating and motile active matter
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05288