Intermittent Motility of a Synthetic Active Particle in Changing Environments

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Hauptverfasser: Sekhri, Rudra, Valani, Rahil N., Simula, Tapio
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Sekhri, Rudra
Valani, Rahil N.
Simula, Tapio
author_facet Sekhri, Rudra
Valani, Rahil N.
Simula, Tapio
contents We experimentally investigate the dynamics of synthetic active particles composed of gravitationally bouncing, superwalking droplets confined within an annular fluid bath. Driven by a topologically pumping dual-frequency waveform, the droplets exhibit alternating active (walking) and dormant (bouncing) phases, producing intermittent azimuthal motion. Tracking individual droplets reveals pseudolaminar chaotic dynamics in the time series of particle's angular position, characterized by laminar plateaus that are interrupted by short irregular bursts of activity. Increasing the driving amplitude induces a qualitative change in the active particle's intermittent dynamics, arising from a symmetry-breaking transition in its Faraday-wave field environment: continuous SO(2)-symmetric "channelling" waves give way to discrete "trapping" patterns. These findings demonstrate how environmental symmetry and spatiotemporal structure modulate motility and intermittency in synthetic active matter.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_16135
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Intermittent Motility of a Synthetic Active Particle in Changing Environments
Sekhri, Rudra
Valani, Rahil N.
Simula, Tapio
Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Chaotic Dynamics
Pattern Formation and Solitons
We experimentally investigate the dynamics of synthetic active particles composed of gravitationally bouncing, superwalking droplets confined within an annular fluid bath. Driven by a topologically pumping dual-frequency waveform, the droplets exhibit alternating active (walking) and dormant (bouncing) phases, producing intermittent azimuthal motion. Tracking individual droplets reveals pseudolaminar chaotic dynamics in the time series of particle's angular position, characterized by laminar plateaus that are interrupted by short irregular bursts of activity. Increasing the driving amplitude induces a qualitative change in the active particle's intermittent dynamics, arising from a symmetry-breaking transition in its Faraday-wave field environment: continuous SO(2)-symmetric "channelling" waves give way to discrete "trapping" patterns. These findings demonstrate how environmental symmetry and spatiotemporal structure modulate motility and intermittency in synthetic active matter.
title Intermittent Motility of a Synthetic Active Particle in Changing Environments
topic Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Chaotic Dynamics
Pattern Formation and Solitons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16135