Active Rosensweig Patterns

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Rigoni, Carlo, Holl, Max Philipp, Scacchi, Alberto, Stråka, Emil, Sohrabi, Fereshteh, Haataja, Mikko P., Sammalkorpi, Maria, Timonen, Jaakko V. I.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Rigoni, Carlo
Holl, Max Philipp
Scacchi, Alberto
Stråka, Emil
Sohrabi, Fereshteh
Haataja, Mikko P.
Sammalkorpi, Maria
Timonen, Jaakko V. I.
author_facet Rigoni, Carlo
Holl, Max Philipp
Scacchi, Alberto
Stråka, Emil
Sohrabi, Fereshteh
Haataja, Mikko P.
Sammalkorpi, Maria
Timonen, Jaakko V. I.
contents Ferrofluids, colloidal dispersions of magnetic nanoparticles, are renowned for pattern formation like few other materials. The Rosensweig instability of a horizontal ferrofluid-air interface in perpendicular magnetic field is especially well known classically, this instability sets the air-ferrofluid interface into an array of spikes that correspond to a new free energy minimum of the system. However, once the pattern is formed, it does not exhibit any notable thermal or non-equilibrium fluctuations, i.e., it is passive. In this work, we present an active version of the Rosensweig patterns. We realize them experimentally by driving a dispersion of magnetic nanoparticles with an electric field into a non-equilibrium gradient state and by inducing the instability using a magnetic field. The coupling of electric and magnetic forcing leads to patterns that can be adjusted from quiescent classic Rosensweig-like behavior (at low activity) to highly dynamic ones displaying peak and defect dynamics, as well as tunability of structure periodicities beyond what is possible in the classic systems (at high activity). We analyze the results using an active agent-based approach as well as a continuum perspective. We construct a simple equilibrium-like effective Rosensweig model to describe the onset of the patterns and propose a minimal Swift-Hohenberg type model capturing the essential active pattern dynamics. Our results suggest that classic continuum systems exhibiting pattern formation can be activated to display life-inspired non-equilibrium phenomena.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_09099
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Active Rosensweig Patterns
Rigoni, Carlo
Holl, Max Philipp
Scacchi, Alberto
Stråka, Emil
Sohrabi, Fereshteh
Haataja, Mikko P.
Sammalkorpi, Maria
Timonen, Jaakko V. I.
Soft Condensed Matter
Ferrofluids, colloidal dispersions of magnetic nanoparticles, are renowned for pattern formation like few other materials. The Rosensweig instability of a horizontal ferrofluid-air interface in perpendicular magnetic field is especially well known classically, this instability sets the air-ferrofluid interface into an array of spikes that correspond to a new free energy minimum of the system. However, once the pattern is formed, it does not exhibit any notable thermal or non-equilibrium fluctuations, i.e., it is passive. In this work, we present an active version of the Rosensweig patterns. We realize them experimentally by driving a dispersion of magnetic nanoparticles with an electric field into a non-equilibrium gradient state and by inducing the instability using a magnetic field. The coupling of electric and magnetic forcing leads to patterns that can be adjusted from quiescent classic Rosensweig-like behavior (at low activity) to highly dynamic ones displaying peak and defect dynamics, as well as tunability of structure periodicities beyond what is possible in the classic systems (at high activity). We analyze the results using an active agent-based approach as well as a continuum perspective. We construct a simple equilibrium-like effective Rosensweig model to describe the onset of the patterns and propose a minimal Swift-Hohenberg type model capturing the essential active pattern dynamics. Our results suggest that classic continuum systems exhibiting pattern formation can be activated to display life-inspired non-equilibrium phenomena.
title Active Rosensweig Patterns
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09099