Collective dynamics of trail-interacting particles

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Pineau, Paul, Bell, Samuel, Voituriez, Raphaël, Adar, Ram M.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Pineau, Paul
Bell, Samuel
Voituriez, Raphaël
Adar, Ram M.
author_facet Pineau, Paul
Bell, Samuel
Voituriez, Raphaël
Adar, Ram M.
contents Trail interactions occur when past particle trajectories bias future motion, rendering the system out of thermodynamic equilibrium. While such systems are abundant in nature, their understanding is limited to the single-particle level or phenomenological mean-field theories. Here, we introduce a minimal model of many trail-interacting particles that extends this paradigm to the fluctuating collective level. Particles diffuse while depositing long-lasting repelling/attracting trails that act as a shared memory field, coupling their dynamics across time and space. Using stochastic density functional theory, we derive fluctuating hydrodynamic equations and analyze analytically and numerically the resulting behaviors. We show that memory, coupled with fluctuations, fundamentally reshapes collective dynamics; In the repulsive case, the particle density displays superdiffusive spreading characterized by transient clustering and ballistic motion; In the attractive case, the system condensates in finite time into frozen, localized states. Our results establish general principles for trail-interacting systems and reveal how persistent fields generate novel instabilities and self-organization.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_03950
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Collective dynamics of trail-interacting particles
Pineau, Paul
Bell, Samuel
Voituriez, Raphaël
Adar, Ram M.
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
Trail interactions occur when past particle trajectories bias future motion, rendering the system out of thermodynamic equilibrium. While such systems are abundant in nature, their understanding is limited to the single-particle level or phenomenological mean-field theories. Here, we introduce a minimal model of many trail-interacting particles that extends this paradigm to the fluctuating collective level. Particles diffuse while depositing long-lasting repelling/attracting trails that act as a shared memory field, coupling their dynamics across time and space. Using stochastic density functional theory, we derive fluctuating hydrodynamic equations and analyze analytically and numerically the resulting behaviors. We show that memory, coupled with fluctuations, fundamentally reshapes collective dynamics; In the repulsive case, the particle density displays superdiffusive spreading characterized by transient clustering and ballistic motion; In the attractive case, the system condensates in finite time into frozen, localized states. Our results establish general principles for trail-interacting systems and reveal how persistent fields generate novel instabilities and self-organization.
title Collective dynamics of trail-interacting particles
topic Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.03950