Active sorting to boundaries in active nematic -- passive isotropic fluid mixtures

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bhattacharyya, Saraswat, Yeomans, Julia M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912565849751552
author Bhattacharyya, Saraswat
Yeomans, Julia M.
author_facet Bhattacharyya, Saraswat
Yeomans, Julia M.
contents We use a two-fluid model to study a confined mixture of an active nematic fluid and a passive isotropic fluid. We find that an extensile active fluid preferentially accumulates at a boundary if the anchoring is planar, whereas its boundary concentration decreases for homeotropic anchoring. These tendencies are reversed if the active fluid is contractile. We argue that the sorting results from gradients in the nematic order, and show that the behaviour can be driven by either imposed boundary anchoring or spontaneous anchoring induced by active flows. Our results can be tested by experiments on microtubule-kinesin motor networks, and may be relevant to sorting to the boundary in cell colonies or cancer spheroids.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_01523
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Active sorting to boundaries in active nematic -- passive isotropic fluid mixtures
Bhattacharyya, Saraswat
Yeomans, Julia M.
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
We use a two-fluid model to study a confined mixture of an active nematic fluid and a passive isotropic fluid. We find that an extensile active fluid preferentially accumulates at a boundary if the anchoring is planar, whereas its boundary concentration decreases for homeotropic anchoring. These tendencies are reversed if the active fluid is contractile. We argue that the sorting results from gradients in the nematic order, and show that the behaviour can be driven by either imposed boundary anchoring or spontaneous anchoring induced by active flows. Our results can be tested by experiments on microtubule-kinesin motor networks, and may be relevant to sorting to the boundary in cell colonies or cancer spheroids.
title Active sorting to boundaries in active nematic -- passive isotropic fluid mixtures
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01523