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How do topological defects affect the degree of order in active matter? To answer this question we investigate an agent-based model of self-propelled particles, which accounts for polar alignment and short-ranged repulsive interactions. For…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-04-30 Christoph A. Weber , Christopher Bock , Erwin Frey

A generalized notion of a nonlocal tensor order parameter is introduced within the framework of the phenomenological approach. This parameter has the form of a traceless tensor correlation function or a tensor integral operator. Based on…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-07-14 Alexey N. Kudryavtsev , Petr A. Purtov , Sergey I. Trashkeev

Active nematics exhibit spontaneous flows through a well-known linear instability of the uniformly-aligned quiescent state. Here we show that even a linearly stable uniform state can experience a nonlinear instability, resulting in a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-03-19 Ido Lavi , Ricard Alert , Jean-François Joanny , Jaume Casademunt

Active stresses can cause instabilities in contractile gels and living tissues. Here we describe a generic hydrodynamic theory that treats these systems as a mixture of two phases of varying activity and different mechanical properties. We…

Biological Physics · Physics 2018-06-20 Christoph Weber , Chris H. Rycroft , L. Mahadevan

We present a comprehensive analytical linear stability analysis of the Toner-Tu model for polar active fluids in the ordered phase. Our results provide exact instability criteria and demonstrate that all generic hydrodynamic instabilities…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-12-23 Patrick Jentsch , Chiu Fan Lee

Phenomenological thermodynamic theory describing the properties of metastable states in disordered ferromagnets and ferroelectrics with frustrative random interactions is developed and its ability to describe various nonergodic phenomena in…

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Physics 2015-05-13 P. N. Timonin

We study planar nematic equilibria on a two-dimensional annulus with strong and weak tangent anchoring, within the Oseen-Frank and Landau-de Gennes theories for nematic liquid crystals. We analyse the defect-free state in the Oseen-Frank…

Analysis of PDEs · Mathematics 2015-04-22 Alexander H. Lewis , Peter D. Howell , Dirk G. A. L. Aarts , Apala Majumdar

Coherent flows of self-propelled particles are characterized by vortices and jets that sustain chaotic flows, referred to as active turbulence. Here, we reveal a crossover between defect-free active turbulence and active turbulence laden…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-05-26 Benjamin H. Andersen , Julian Renaud , Jonas Rønning , Luiza Angheluta , Amin Doostmohammadi

Anisotropic fluids appear in a diverse array of systems, from liquid-crystal displays to bacterial swarms, and are characterized by orientational order. Large colloidal particles immersed in such environments disturb the medium's…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-01-03 Thomas G. J. Chandler , Saverio E. Spagnolie

The persistent dynamics in systems out of equilibrium, particularly those characterized by annihilation and creation of topological defects, is known to involve complicated spatiotemporal processes and is deemed difficult to control. Here…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-11-22 Zhi-Feng Huang , Hartmut Löwen , Axel Voigt

We develop a theory for thermodynamic instabilities of complex fluids composed of many interacting chemical species organised in families. This model includes partially structured and partially random interactions and can be solved exactly…

Biological Physics · Physics 2022-07-21 Giorgio Carugno , Izaak Neri , Pierpaolo Vivo

We study a class of symmetric critical points in a variational $2D$ Landau - de Gennes model where the state of nematic liquid crystals is described by symmetric traceless $3\times 3$ matrices. These critical points play the role of…

Analysis of PDEs · Mathematics 2016-08-24 Radu Ignat , Luc Nguyen , Valeriy Slastikov , Arghir Zarnescu

We study the necking of a filament of complex fluid or soft solid subject to uniaxial tensile stretching, under conditions of constant imposed stress and force, by means of linear stability analysis and nonlinear simulations. We demonstrate…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-11-22 David M. Hoyle , Suzanne M. Fielding

The phase-field-crystal model for liquid crystals is solved numerically in two spatial dimensions. This model is formulated with three position-dependent order parameters, namely the reduced translational density, the local nematic order…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-01-28 Cristian Vasile Achim , Raphael Wittkowski , Hartmut Löwen

We develop an effective two-dimensional coarse-grained description for the coupled system of a planar fluid membrane anchored to a thin layer of polar ordered active fluid below. The macroscopic orientation of the active fluid layer is…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2013-09-16 Niladri Sarkar , Abhik Basu

The hydrodynamic theory of active nematics has been often used to describe the spatio-temporal dynamics of cell flows and motile topological defects within soft confluent tissues. Those theories, however, often rely on the assumption that…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-08-15 Ioannis Hadjifrangiskou , Liam J. Ruske , Julia M. Yeomans

Nematic order often breaks the tetragonal symmetry of iron-based superconductors. It arises from regular structural transition or electronic instability in the normal phase. Here, we report the observation of a nematic superconducting…

Two-dimensional nonequilibrium nematic steady states, as found in agitated granular-rod monolayers or films of orientable amoeboid cells, were predicted [Europhys. Lett. {\bf 62} (2003) 196] to have giant number fluctuations, with standard…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-11-11 Shradha Mishra , Sriram Ramaswamy

In culture migrating and interacting amoeboid cells can form nematic liquid crystal phases. A polar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has a polar symmetry. One type of white blood cells (granulocytes) form clusters where…

Biological Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Ralf Kemkemer , Dieter Kling , Dieter Kaufmann , Hans Gruler

We numerically study the coarsening of topological defects in 2D polar active matter and make several interesting observations and predictions. (i) The long time state is characterized by nonzero density of defects, in stark contrast to…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-09-30 Soumyadeep Mondal , Pankaj Popli , Sumantra Sarkar