Defect Line Coarsening and Refinement in Active Nematics

Active matter is naturally out of equilibrium which results in the emergence of diverse dynamic steady states, including the omnipresent chaotic state known as the active turbulence. However, much less is known how active systems dynamically depart out of these configurations, such as get excited or damped to a different dynamic steady state. In this Letter, we demonstrate the coarsening and refinement dynamics of topological defect lines in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence. Specifically, using theory and numerical modelling, we are able to predict the evolution of the active defect density away from the steady state due to time-dependent activity or viscoelastic material properties, establishing a single length scale phenomenological description of defect line coarsening/refinement in a three-dimensional active nematic. The approach is first applied to growth dynamics of a single active defect loop, and then to a full three-dimensional active defect network. More generally, this work provides insight into the general coarsening phenomena between dynamical regimes in 3D active matter, with a possible analogy in other physical systems.