Non-uniqueness of the steady state for run-and-tumble particles with a double-well interaction potential

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Touzo, Léo, Doussal, Pierre Le
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Touzo, Léo
Doussal, Pierre Le
author_facet Touzo, Léo
Doussal, Pierre Le
contents We study $N$ run-and-tumble particles (RTPs) in one dimension interacting via a double-well potential $W(r)=-k_0 \, r^2/2+g \, r^4/4$, which is repulsive at short interparticle distance $r$ and attractive at large distance. At large time, the system forms a bound state where the density of particles has a finite support. We focus on the determination of the total density of particles in the stationary state $ρ_s(x)$, in the limit $N\to+\infty$. We obtain an explicit expression for $ρ_s(x)$ as a function of the ''renormalized" interaction parameter $k=k_0-3m_2$ where $m_2$ is the second moment of $ρ_s(x)$. Interestingly, this stationary solution exhibits a transition between a connected and a disconnected support for a certain value of $k$, which has no equivalent in the case of Brownian particles. Analyzing in detail the expression of the stationary density in the two cases, we find a variety of regimes characterized by different behaviors near the edges of the support and around $x=0$. Furthermore, we find that the mapping $k_0\to k$ becomes multi-valued below a certain value of the tumbling rate $γ$ of the RTPs for some range of values of $k_0$ near the transition, implying the existence of two stable solutions. Finally, we show that in the case of a disconnected support, it is possible to observe steady states where the density $ρ_s(x)$ is not symmetric. All our analytical predictions are in good agreement with numerical simulations already for systems of $N = 100$ particles. The non-uniqueness of the stationary state is a particular feature of this model in the presence of active (RTP) noise, which contrasts with the uniqueness of the Gibbs equilibrium for Brownian particles. We argue that these results are also relevant for a class of more realistic interactions with both an attractive and a repulsive part, but which decay at infinity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_07212
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-uniqueness of the steady state for run-and-tumble particles with a double-well interaction potential
Touzo, Léo
Doussal, Pierre Le
Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
We study $N$ run-and-tumble particles (RTPs) in one dimension interacting via a double-well potential $W(r)=-k_0 \, r^2/2+g \, r^4/4$, which is repulsive at short interparticle distance $r$ and attractive at large distance. At large time, the system forms a bound state where the density of particles has a finite support. We focus on the determination of the total density of particles in the stationary state $ρ_s(x)$, in the limit $N\to+\infty$. We obtain an explicit expression for $ρ_s(x)$ as a function of the ''renormalized" interaction parameter $k=k_0-3m_2$ where $m_2$ is the second moment of $ρ_s(x)$. Interestingly, this stationary solution exhibits a transition between a connected and a disconnected support for a certain value of $k$, which has no equivalent in the case of Brownian particles. Analyzing in detail the expression of the stationary density in the two cases, we find a variety of regimes characterized by different behaviors near the edges of the support and around $x=0$. Furthermore, we find that the mapping $k_0\to k$ becomes multi-valued below a certain value of the tumbling rate $γ$ of the RTPs for some range of values of $k_0$ near the transition, implying the existence of two stable solutions. Finally, we show that in the case of a disconnected support, it is possible to observe steady states where the density $ρ_s(x)$ is not symmetric. All our analytical predictions are in good agreement with numerical simulations already for systems of $N = 100$ particles. The non-uniqueness of the stationary state is a particular feature of this model in the presence of active (RTP) noise, which contrasts with the uniqueness of the Gibbs equilibrium for Brownian particles. We argue that these results are also relevant for a class of more realistic interactions with both an attractive and a repulsive part, but which decay at infinity.
title Non-uniqueness of the steady state for run-and-tumble particles with a double-well interaction potential
topic Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07212