Flocking through a sea of rods

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sharma, Abhishek, Soni, Harsh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Sharma, Abhishek
Soni, Harsh
author_facet Sharma, Abhishek
Soni, Harsh
contents We investigate the collective behavior of motile rods immersed in a monolayer of apolar rods confined between vertically vibrating plates using numerical simulations. We uncover an antidiffusive instability whereby motile rods segregate from the apolar medium and form flocks whose size increases with the medium concentration. Remarkably, enhanced segregation leads to a reduction of the global polar order. The flock structure is strongly influenced by the anisotropy of the medium rods. For small aspect ratios, the flocks are elongated perpendicular to the mean direction of motion, whereas for larger aspect ratios, they elongate along the direction of motility. We rationalize the emergence of segregation-induced disorder using a minimal mean-field model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10516
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Flocking through a sea of rods
Sharma, Abhishek
Soni, Harsh
Soft Condensed Matter
We investigate the collective behavior of motile rods immersed in a monolayer of apolar rods confined between vertically vibrating plates using numerical simulations. We uncover an antidiffusive instability whereby motile rods segregate from the apolar medium and form flocks whose size increases with the medium concentration. Remarkably, enhanced segregation leads to a reduction of the global polar order. The flock structure is strongly influenced by the anisotropy of the medium rods. For small aspect ratios, the flocks are elongated perpendicular to the mean direction of motion, whereas for larger aspect ratios, they elongate along the direction of motility. We rationalize the emergence of segregation-induced disorder using a minimal mean-field model.
title Flocking through a sea of rods
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10516