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Related papers: Active nematodynamics on deformable surfaces

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We describe the flows and morphological dynamics of topological defect lines and loops in three-dimensional active nematics and show, using theory and numerical modelling, that they are governed by the local profile of the orientational…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-03-13 Jack Binysh , Žiga Kos , Simon Čopar , Miha Ravnik , Gareth P. Alexander

Point-like motile topological defects control the universal dynamics of diverse two-dimensional active nematics ranging from shaken granular rods to cellular monolayers. A comparable understanding in higher dimensions has yet to emerge. We…

Topological defects in systems with liquid-crystalline order are crucial in determining their large-scale properties. In active systems, they are known to have properties impossible at equilibrium: for example, $+1/2$ defects in…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-02-17 Giacomo Marco La Montagna , Sumeja Burekovic , Ananyo Maitra , Cesare Nardini

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)…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-09-02 Jonas Rønning , M. Cristina Marchetti , Luiza Angheluta

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

Active nematics contain topological defects which under sufficient activity move, create and annihilate in a chaotic quasi-steady state, called active turbulence. However, understanding active defects under confinement is an open challenge,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-10-02 Simon Čopar , Jure Aplinc , Žiga Kos , Slobodan Žumer , Miha Ravnik

Colloidal inclusions in nematic fluids induce topological defects that govern their dynamics. These defects create well-understood rheological behavior in passive nematics, but the interplay between colloid-associated defects and…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-03-26 Timofey Kozhukhov , Benjamin Loewe , Kristian Thijssen , Tyler N. Shendruk

We investigate the effects of extrinsic curvature on the turbulent behavior of a 2D active nematic confined to the surface of a cylinder. The surface of a cylinder has no intrinsic curvatrue and only extrinsic curvature. A nematic field…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-08-26 D. J. G. Pearce

In two dimensional nematics, topological defects are point like singularities with both a charge and a phase. We study topological defects within curved nematic textures on the surface of a cylinder. This allows us to isolate the effect of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-05-10 Daniel J. G. Pearce

We develop a fully coupled theoretical description of dislocation dynamics on deformable crystalline surfaces, using continuum modeling and the amplitude-phase-field crystal (APFC) framework extended to curved geometries. We derive a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-02-17 Marcello De Donno , Luiza Angheluta , Marco Salvalaglio

Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…

Active processes drive and guide biological dynamics across scales -- from subcellular cytoskeletal remodelling, through tissue development in embryogenesis, to population-level bacterial colonies expansion. In each of these, biological…

Cell deformability is an essential determinant for tissue-scale mechanical nature, such as fluidity and rigidity, and is thus crucial for understanding tissue homeostasis and stable developmental processes. However, numerical simulations…

Tissues and Organs · Quantitative Biology 2023-03-08 Nen Saito , Shuji Ishihara

We characterise the particlelike kinematics of charge-carrying topological defects in nematic media via a geometric field theory. This differs from the theory of electromagnetism, with which it is often compared, due to the absence of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-05-22 Joseph Pollard , Richard G. Morris

Starting from a three-dimensional description of an active nematic layer, we employ an asymptotic theory to derive a series of low-dimensional continuum models that capture the coupled dynamics of flat and curved films, including variations…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-06-23 Mehrana R. Nejad , L. Mahadevan

Growing experimental evidence indicates that topological defects could serve as organizing centers in the morphogenesis of tissues. Here, we provide a quantitative explanation for this phenomenon, rooted in the buckling theory of deformable…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-04-21 Ludwig A. Hoffmann , Livio Nicola Carenza , Julia Eckert , Luca Giomi

We establish how active stress globally affects the morphology of disclination lines of a three dimensional active nematic liquid crystal under chaotic flow. Thanks to a defect detection algorithm based on the local nematic orientation, we…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-06-30 Pasquale Digregorio , Cecilia Rorai , Ignacio Pagonabarraga , Federico Toschi

We adapt the Halperin-Mazenko formalism to analyze two-dimensional active nematics coupled to a generic fluid flow. The governing hydrodynamic equations lead to evolution laws for nematic topological defects and their corresponding density…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-05-11 Luiza Angheluta , Zhitao Chen , M. Cristina Marchetti , Mark J. Bowick

The topological properties of many materials are central to their behavior, with the dynamics of topological defects being particularly important to intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, active materials. In this paper, local manipulation of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-11-01 David P. Rivas , Tyler N. Shendruk , Robert R. Henry , Daniel H. Reich , Robert L. Leheny

We perform dynamical simulations of a two-dimensional active nematic fluid in coexistence with an isotropic fluid. Drops of active nematic become elongated, and an effective anchoring develops at the nematic-isotropic interface. The…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-12-17 Matthew L. Blow , Sumesh P. Thampi , Julia M. Yeomans