Related papers: Integer defects, flow localization, and bistabilit…
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…
We study the characteristics of fluid-fluid displacement in simple mixed-wet porous micromodels numerically using a dynamic pore network model. The porous micromodel consists of distinct water-wet and oil-wet regions, whose fractions are…
Active nematics are fluids in which the components have nematic symmetry and are driven out of equilibrium due to the microscopic generation of an active stress. When the active stress is high, it drives flows in the nematic and can lead to…
Ring-like ripples on the surface of icicles are an example of morphological instability of the ice-water interface during ice growth under supercooled water film flow. The surface of icicles is typically covered with ripples of about 1 cm…
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…
The presence of defects such as vacancies in solids has prominent effects on their mechanical properties. It not only modifies the stiffness and strength of materials, but also changes their morphologies. The latter effect is extremely…
We use continuum simulations to study the impact of friction on the ordering of defects in an active nematic. Even in a frictionless system, +1/2 defects tend to align side-by-side and orient antiparallel reflecting their propensity to…
We study the topological dynamics by iterations of a piecewise continuous, non linear and locally contractive map in a real finite dimensional compact ball. We consider those maps satisfying the "separation property": different continuity…
We investigate the occurrence of topologically protected waves in classical fluids confined on curved surfaces. Using a combination of topological band theory and real space analysis, we demonstrate the existence of a system-independent…
We have studied the collective motion of polar active particles confined to ellipsoidal surfaces. The geometric constraints lead to the formation of vortices that encircle surface points of constant curvature (umbilics). We have found that…
We study the impact of the wetting properties on the immiscible displacement of a viscous fluid in disordered porous media. We present a novel pore-scale model that captures wettability and dynamic effects, including the spatiotemporal…
Turing patterns emerge from a spatially uniform state following a linear instability driven by diffusion. Features of the eventual pattern (stabilized by non-linearities) are already present in the initial unstable modes. On a uniform flat…
Phase singularities appear ubiquitously in wavefields, regardless of the wave equation. Such topological defects can lead to wavefront dislocations, as observed in a humongous number of classical wave experiments. Phase singularities of…
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…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into directional motion, giving rise to striking dynamical phenomena. Developing a general understanding of their structure in relation to the underlying non-equilibrium physics would…
Active fluids display spontaneous turbulent-like flows known as active turbulence. Recent work revealed that these flows have universal features, independent of the material properties and of the presence of topological defects. However,…
Instabilities of fluid-fluid interfaces are ubiquitous in passive soft matter. Adding activity to the interface or either fluid can dramatically change the stability of the interface. Using experiment and theory, we investigate the…
We examine the nonequilibrium nature of two-phase fluid displacements in a quasi-two-dimensional medium (a model open fracture), in the presence of localized constrictions ("defects"), from a theoretical and numerical standpoint. Our…
An intrinsic feature of nearly all internal interfaces in crystalline systems (homo- and hetero-phase) is the presence of disconnections (topological line defects constrained to the interface that have both step and dislocation character).…
The interplay between geometry, topology and order can lead to geometric frustration that profoundly affects the shape and structure of a curved surface. In this commentary we show how frustration in this context can result in the faceting…