Related papers: Vorticity, Defects and Correlations in Active Turb…
We numerically investigate the effect of a periodic array of asymmetric obstacles in a two-dimensional active nematic. We find that activity in conjunction with the asymmetry leads to a ratchet effect or unidirectional flow of the fluid…
We numerically solve the active nematohydrodynamic equations of motion, coupled to a Turing reaction-diffusion model, to study the effect of active nematic flow on the stripe patterns resulting from a Turing instability. If the activity is…
Instabilities of fluid-fluid interfaces are ubiquitous in passive soft matter. Adding activity to the interface or either fluid can dramatically change the stability of the interface. Using experiment and theory, we investigate the…
We numerically model a two-dimensional active nematic confined by a periodic array of fixed obstacles. Even in the passive nematic, the appearance of topological defects is unavoidable due to planar anchoring by the obstacle surfaces. We…
We study dry, dense active nematics at both particle and continuous levels. Specifically, extending the Boltzmann-Ginzburg-Landau approach, we derive well-behaved hydrodynamic equations from a Vicsek-style model with nematic alignment and…
Active nematics are microscopically driven liquid crystals that exhibit dynamical steady states characterized by the creation and annihilation of topological defects. Motivated by experimental realizations of such systems made of biopolymer…
We consider a phenomenological continuum theory for an extensile, overdamped active nematic liquid crystal, applicable in the dense regime. Constructed from general principles, the theory is universal, with parameters independent of any…
Active fluids such as bacterial swarms, self-propelled colloids, and cell tissues can all display complex spatio-temporal vortices that are reminiscent of inertial turbulence. This emergent behavior despite the overdamped nature of these…
We consider a continuum model of active viscoelastic matter, whereby an active nematic liquid-crystal is coupled to a minimal model of polymer dynamics with a viscoelastic relaxation time $\tau_C$. To explore the resulting interplay between…
We study the dynamics of topological defects in active nematic films with spatially-varying activity and consider two setups: i) a constant activity gradient, and ii) a sharp jump in activity. A constant gradient of extensile (contractile)…
The small-scale statistical properties of velocity circulation in classical homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows are assessed through a modeling framework that brings together the multiplicative cascade and the structural descriptions…
The motion of topological defects is an important feature of the dynamics of all liquid crystals, and is especially conspicuous in active liquid crystals. Understanding defect motion is a challenging theoretical problem, because the…
From the mitotic spindle up to tissues and biofilms, many biological systems behave as active droplets, which often break symmetry and change shape spontaneously. Here, I show that active nematic droplets can experience a fingering…
The transition from complex-periodic to chaotic behavior is investigated in oscillatory media supporting spiral waves. We find turbulent regimes characterized by the spontaneous nucleation, proliferation and erratic motion of…
Topological defects, which are singular points in a director field, play a major role in shaping active systems. Here, we experimentally study topological defects and the flow patterns around them, that are formed during the highly rapid…
We propose a simple deterministic dynamic equation and reveal the mechanism of large-scale endless evolvement of spatial density inhomogeneity in active nematic. We determine the phase regions analytically. The interplay of density,…
From incompressible flows to electrostatics, harmonic functions can provide solutions to many two-dimensional problems and, similarly, the director field of a planar nematic can be determined using complex analysis. We derive a closed-form…
The dimensionality of turbulence in fluid layers determines their properties. We study electromagnetically driven flows in finite depth fluid layers and show that eddy viscosity, which appears as a result of three-dimensional motions, leads…
We present a model for the dynamics of fluid vesicles in linear flow which consistently includes thermal fluctuations and nonlinear coupling between different modes. At the transition between tank-treading and tumbling, we predict a…
We describe channel flows in a continuum model of deformable nematic particles. In a simple shear flow, deformability leads to a nonlinear coupling of strain rate and vorticity, and results in shape oscillations or flow alignment. The final…