Related papers: Topological active matter
Increasing evidence suggests that active matter exhibits instances of mixed symmetry that cannot be fully described by either polar or nematic formalism. Here, we introduce a minimal model that integrates self-propulsion into the active…
Active systems are driven out of equilibrium by exchanging energy and momentum with their environment. This endows them with anomalous mechanical properties that we review in this colloquium for the case of dry scalar active matter, which…
The topological features of quantum many-body wave functions are known to have profound consequences for the physics of ground-states and their low-energy excitations. We describe how topology influences the dynamics of many-body systems…
Topological defects are ubiquitous on surfaces with orientational order fields. Here, we study equilibrium states generated by the feedback between geometry and nematic order on fluid membranes with an integer topological defect. When the…
The hallmark feature of topological insulators renders edge transport virtually impervious to scattering at defects and lattice disorder. In our work, we experimentally demonstrate a topological system, using a photonic platform, in which…
Topological phases of matter are one of the hallmarks of quantum condensed matter physics. One of their striking features is a bulk-boundary correspondence wherein the topological nature of the bulk manifests itself on boundaries via exotic…
Active matter comprises self-driven units, such as bacteria and synthetic microswimmers, that can spontaneously form complex patterns and assemble into functional microdevices. These processes are possible thanks to the out-of-equilibrium…
We address the co-existence of massless and massive topological edge states at the interface between two materials with different topological phases. We modify the well known Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model to introduce a smooth function…
Topological defects are one of the most conspicuous features of liquid crystals. In two dimensional nematics, they have been shown to behave effectively as particles with both, charge and orientation, which dictate their interactions. Here,…
Topology is quickly becoming a cornerstone in our understanding of electronic systems. Like their electronic counterparts, bosonic systems can exhibit a topological band structure, but in real materials it is difficult to ascertain their…
The central goal of this thesis is to develop methods to experimentally study topological phases. We do so by applying the powerful toolbox of quantum simulation techniques with cold atoms in optical lattices. To this day, a complete…
Biological systems exhibit large-scale self-organized dynamics and structures which enable organisms to perform the functions of life. The field of active matter strives to develop and understand microscopically-driven nonequilibrium…
The classification of materials into insulators and conductors has been shaken up by the discovery of topological insulators that conduct robustly at the edge but not in the bulk. In mechanics, designating a material as insulating or…
Topological phases usually are unreachable in molecular solids, which are characteristic of weakly dispersed energy bands with a large gap, in contrast to topological materials. In this work, however, we propose that nontrivial electronic…
Flocking models with metric and topological interactions are supposed to exhibit distinct features, as for instance the presence and absence of moving polar bands. On the other hand, quenched disorder (spatial heterogeneities) has been…
The coupling of active, self-motile particles to topological constraints can give rise to novel non-equilibrium dynamical patterns that lack any passive counterpart. Here we study the behavior of self-propelled rods confined to a compact…
Complex networks play a fundamental role in understanding phenomena from the collective behavior of spins, neural networks, and power grids to the spread of diseases. Topological phenomena in such networks have recently been exploited to…
We analyse the massless wave equation on a class of two dimensional manifolds consisting of an arbitrary number of topological cylinders connected to one or more topological spheres. Such manifolds are endowed with a degenerate…
Many systems in nature and the synthetic world involve ordered arrangements of units on two-dimensional surfaces. We review here the fundamental role payed by both the topology of the underlying surface and its detailed curvature. Topology…
Robustness against small perturbations is a crucial feature of topological properties. This robustness is both a source of theoretical interest and a drive for technological applications, but presents a challenge when looking for new…