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We propose a simple model of self-propelled particles to show that coherent structures, such as jets and swirls, can arise from a plausible microscopic mechanisms: (i) the elongated shape of the self-propelled particles with (ii) the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-11-13 Nicholas Sambelashvili , A. W. C. Lau , David Cai

The persistent dynamics of active particles makes them explore extended portions of an obstacle's boundary during collisions. From impact to escape, the net applied forces depend on the curvature of the wall and increase in the presence of…

Concentrated suspensions of swimming microorganisms and other forms of active matter are known to display complex, self-organized spatio-temporal patterns on scales large compared to those of the individual motile units. Despite intensive…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-07-15 Enkeleida Lushi , Hugo Wioland , Raymond E Goldstein

In biological systems, active agents such as actomyosin and cells move and interact on curved surfaces, exhibiting diverse phenomena. These observations have motivated studies of how curvature shapes their collective behavior. Here, using a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-12-19 Tatsuo Shibata

Cells swimming in confined environments are attracted by surfaces. We measure the steady-state distribution of smooth-swimming bacteria (Escherichia coli) between two glass plates. In agreement with earlier studies, we find a strong…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2008-10-02 Allison P. Berke , Linda Turner , Howard C. Berg , Eric Lauga

Randomly moving active particles can be herded into directed motion by asymmetric geometric structures. Although such a rectification process has been extensively studied due to its fundamental, biological, and technological relevance, a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-03-31 Satyam Anand , Xiaolei Ma , Shuo Guo , Stefano Martiniani , Xiang Cheng

We study non-equilibrium bacterial colony growth using a geometry-first, time-resolved analysis of morphology. From time-lapse microscopy data, we track the coupled evolution of area, perimeter, and boundary-sensitive shape descriptors…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-02-06 Benjamin Evert Himberg , Sanghita Sengupta

External control of the swimming speed of `active particles' can be used to self assemble designer structures in situ on the micrometer to millimeter scale. We demonstrate such reconfigurable templated active self assembly in a fluid…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-02-23 Jochen Arlt , Vincent A Martinez , Angela Dawson , Teuta Pilizota , Wilson C K Poon

Active droplets are artificial microswimmers built from a liquid dispersion by microfluidic tools and showing self-propelled motion. These systems hold particular interest for mimicking biological phenomena, such as some aspects of cell…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-06-14 Adriano Tiribocchi , Mihir Durve , Marco Lauricella , Andrea Montessori , Davide Marenduzzo , Sauro Succi

Bacteria commonly inhabit porous environments such as host tissues, soil, and marine sediments, where complex geometries constrain and redirect their motion. Although bacterial motility has been studied in porous media, the roles of cell…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-12-22 David Gao , Zeyuan Wang , Mihika Jain , Arnold J. T. M. Mathijssen , Ran Tao

An active colloidal fluid comprised of self-propelled spinning particles injecting energy and angular momentum at the microscale demonstrates spontaneous collective states that range from flocks to coherent vortices. Despite their seeming…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-11-16 Bo Zhang , Benjamin Hilton , Christopher Short , Anton Souslov , Alexey Snezhko

The flagellated bacterium Escherichia coli is increasingly used experimentally as a self-propelled swimmer. To obtain meaningful, quantitative results that are comparable between different laboratories, reproducible protocols are needed to…

Micron-sized self-propelled (active) particles can be considered as model systems for characterizing more complex biological organisms like swimming bacteria or motile cells. We produce asymmetric microswimmers by soft lithography and study…

Many motile microorganisms adjust their swimming motion relative to the gravitational field and thus counteract sedimentation to the ground. This gravitactic behavior is often the result of an inhomogeneous mass distribution which aligns…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-04-16 Borge ten Hagen , Felix Kümmel , Raphael Wittkowski , Daisuke Takagi , Hartmut Löwen , Clemens Bechinger

Interaction between active materials and the boundaries of geometrical confinement is key to many emergent phenomena in active systems. For living active matter consisting of animal cells or motile bacteria, the confinement boundary is…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-08-29 Haoran Xu , Mehrana R. Nejad , Julia M. Yeomans , Yilin Wu

In many biological systems, the curvature of the surfaces cells live on influence their collective properties. Curvature should likewise influence the behavior of active colloidal particles. We show using molecular simulation of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-02-25 Philipp W. A. Schönhöfer , Sharon C. Glotzer

Can topography be used to control bacteria accumulation? We address this question in the model system of smooth-swimming and run-and-tumble \textit{Escherichia coli} swimming near a sinusoidal surface, and show that the accumulation of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-08-08 Benjamín Pérez-Estay , María Luisa Cordero , Néstor Sepúlveda , Rodrigo Soto

Effect of internal chirality on collective motion of a large number of active objects is studied by simulations of appropriately modified Vicsek model. We add a fixed angle to the noise and consider small ratios, $p$, between this angle and…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-03-31 W. T. Gozdz , A. Ciach

We investigate the emergence of global alignment in colonies of dividing rod-shaped cells under confinement. Using molecular dynamics simulations and continuous modeling, we demonstrate that geometrical anisotropies in the confining…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-01-26 Zhihong You , Daniel J. G. Pearce , Luca Giomi

The collective dynamics of coupled two-dimensional chaotic maps on complex networks is known to exhibit a rich variety of emergent properties which crucially depend on the underlying network topology. We investigate the collective motion of…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-18 Zoran Levnajić , Bosiljka Tadić