Cooperative Behavior and Pattern Formation in Mixtures of Driven and Nondriven Colloidal Assemblies
Abstract
We simulate a disordered assembly of particles interacting through a repulsive Yukawa potential with a small fraction of the particles coupled to an external drive. Distortions in the arrangement of the nondriven particles produce a dynamically induced effective attraction between the driven particles, giving rise to intermittent one-dimensional stringlike structures. The velocity of a moving string increases with the number of driven particles in the string. We identify the average stable string length as a function of driving force, background particle density, and particle charge. This model represents a new type of collective transport system composed of interacting particles moving through deformable disorder.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0602118,
title = {Cooperative Behavior and Pattern Formation in Mixtures of Driven and Nondriven Colloidal Assemblies},
author = {C. Reichhardt and C. J. Olson Reichhardt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0602118},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 postscript figures