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Related papers: Defect-driven shape transitions in elastic active …

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We present a hydrodynamic model for a thin spherical shell of active nematic liquid crystal with an arbitrary configuration of defects. The active flows generated by defects in the director lead to the formation of stable vortices,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-11-13 Diana Khoromskaia , Gareth P. Alexander

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…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-11-14 D. J. G. Pearce , C. Thibault , Q. Chaboche , C. Blanch-Mercader

We study the spatiotemporal patterns that emerge when an active nematic film is topologically constraint. These topological constraints allow to control the non-equilibrium dynamics of the active system. We consider ellipsoidal shapes for…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-03-13 Francesco Alaimo , Christian Köhler , Axel Voigt

Mechanical stresses are increasingly found to be associated with various biological functionalities. At the same time, topological defects are being identified across a diverse range of biological systems and are points of localized…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-12-08 Lasse Bonn , Aleksandra Ardaševa , Amin Doostmohammadi

Inspired by epithelial morphogenesis, we consider a minimal model for the shaping of a surface driven by $p$-atic topological defects. We show that a positive (negative) defect can dynamically generate a (hyperbolic) cone whose shape…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-03-02 Farzan Vafa , L. Mahadevan

Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous particles that spontaneously propel from internal active stresses…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-06-12 Suraj Shankar , Luca V. D. Scharrer , Mark J. Bowick , M. Cristina Marchetti

Topological defects are increasingly being identified in various biological systems, where their characteristic flow fields and stress patterns are associated with continuous active stress generation by biological entities. Here, using…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-11-09 Lasse Bonn , Aleksandra Ardaseva , Romain Mueller , Tyler N. Shendruk , Amin Doostmohammadi

Morphogenesis involves the transformation of initially simple shapes, such as multicellular spheroids, into more complex $3D$ shapes. These shape changes are governed by mechanical forces including molecular motor-generated forces as well…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-10-13 Ajoy Maji , Kinjal Dasbiswas , Yitzhak Rabin

Defect dynamics in a thin active nematic layer is studied by asymptotic matching of solutions in the defect core and the far field. The analysis is facilitated by the correspondence between the 2D nematic and complex scalar field models.…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-06-16 L. M. Pismen

Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a key challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. Cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed reference state, and tensions are actively generated independently of strain; so conventional…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-05-28 Nikolas H. Claussen , Fridtjof Brauns , Boris I. Shraiman

Recent experiments and numerical studies have drawn attention to the dynamics of active nematics. Two-dimensional active nematics flow spontaneously and exhibit spatiotemporal chaotic flows with proliferation of topological defects in the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-07-08 Farzan Vafa , Mark J. Bowick , M. Cristina Marchetti , Boris I. Shraiman

Non-equilibrium dynamics of topological defects can be used as a fundamental propulsion mechanism in microscopic active matter. Here, we demonstrate swimming of topological defect-propelled colloidal particles in (passive) nematic fluids…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-09-30 Tianyi Yao , Žiga Kos , Yimin Luo , Edward B. Steager , Miha Ravnik , Kathleen J. Stebe

We consider active nematodynamics on deformable surfaces. Based on a thermodynamically consistent surface Beris-Edwards model we add nematic activity and focus on the emerging additional coupling mechanism between the nematic field, the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-05-24 Ingo Nitschke , Axel Voigt

Topological defects in active polar fluids exhibit complex dynamics driven by internally generated stresses, reflecting the deep interplay between topology, flow, and non-equilibrium hydrodynamics. Feedback control offers a powerful means…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-07-28 Abhinav Singh , Petros Koumoutsakos

Using agent-based simulations of self-propelled particles subject to short-range repulsion and nematic alignment we explore the dynamical phases of a dense active material confined to the surface of a sphere. We map the dynamical phase…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-04-25 Silke Henkes , M. Cristina Marchetti , Rastko Sknepnek

Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-06-19 Luca Giomi , Mark J. Bowick , Prashant Mishra , Rastko Sknepnek , M. Cristina Marchetti

We formulate the statistical dynamics of topological defects in the active nematic phase, formed in two dimensions by a collection of self-driven particles on a substrate. An important consequence of the non-equilibrium drive is the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-09-12 Suraj Shankar , Sriram Ramaswamy , M. Cristina Marchetti , Mark J. Bowick

Directional media, such as nematic liquid crystals and ferromagnets, are characterized by their topologically stabilized defects in directional order. In nematics, boundary conditions and surface-treated inclusions often create complex…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-06-03 Simon Čopar , Slobodan Žumer

Active materials are those in which individual, uncoordinated local stresses drive the material out of equilibrium on a global scale. Examples of such assemblies can be seen across scales from schools of fish to the cellular cytoskeleton…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-09-30 Nitin Kumar , Rui Zhang , Steven A. Redford , Juan J. de Pablo , Margaret L. Gardel

To enhance the understanding of the behavior of active nematic, it is important to understand the behavior of topological defects. In this paper, we study the configuration of topological defects of a two-dimensional active nematic around a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-02-16 Hiroki Matsukiyo , Jun-ichi Fukuda