Related papers: Selective excitation of work-generating cycles in …
Nonreciprocal interactions-- where forces between entities are asymmetric-- govern a wide range of nonequilibrium phenomena, yet their role in structural transitions in living and active systems remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate a…
Active crystals are highly ordered structures that emerge from the self-organization of motile objects, and have been widely studied in synthetic and bacterial active matter. Whether collective crystallization phenomena can occur in groups…
In equilibrium, the physical properties of matter are set by the interactions between the constituents. In contrast, the energy input of the individual components controls the behavior of synthetic or living active matter. Great progress…
With increasing emphasis on the study of active solids, the features of these classes of nonequilibrium systems and materials beyond their mere existence shift into focus. One concept of active solids addresses them as active,…
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…
Collective actuation in active solids - the spontaneous coherent excitation of a few vibrational modes - emerges from a feedback between structural deformations and the orientation of active forces. It is an excellent candidate as a basic…
Dense suspensions of self-propelled rod-like particles exhibit a fascinating variety of non-equilibrium phenomena. By means of computer simulations of a minimal model for rigid self-propelled colloidal rods with variable shape we explore…
We study a new type of 2D active material that exhibits macroscopic phases with two emergent broken symmetries: self-propelled achiral particles that form dense hexatic clusters, which spontaneously rotate. We experimentally realise active…
We present an overdamped continuum description of oriented active solids in which interactions respect the symmetries of space but do not obey the principle of action and reaction. Taking position and orientation as kinematic variables, we…
The spontaneous generation of electrical activity underpins a number of essential physiological processes, and is observed even in tissues where specialized pacemaker cells have not been identified. The emergence of periodic oscillations in…
Active solids consist of elastically coupled out-of-equilibrium units performing work. They are central to autonomous processes, such as locomotion, self-oscillations and rectification, in biological systems,designer materials and robotics.…
The appearance of emergent symmetries in complex systems with components that can form composite units provides us with opportunities for design and control of exotic phase behaviour, for example by exploiting the dynamical symmetry…
Diverse equilibrium systems with heterogeneous interactions lie at the edge of stability. Such marginally stable states are dynamically selected as the most abundant ones or as those with the largest basins of attraction. On the other hand,…
A wide range of physical and biological systems, including colloidal magnets, granular spinners, and starfish embryos, are characterized by strongly rotating units that give rise to odd viscosity and odd elasticity. These active systems can…
Non-reciprocal interactions between scalar fields that represent the concentrations of two active species are known to break the parity and time-reversal (PT) symmetries of the equilibrium state, as manifested in the emergence of travelling…
Activity and renewability are distinctive features of living matter, and constitute a new class of materials that we term renewable active matter. A striking example is the cell cytoskeleton, where myosin filaments bind to the actin…
Pattern formation in active biological matter typically arises from the feedback between chemical concentration fields and mechanical stresses. The actomyosin cortex of cells is an archetypal example of an active thin film that displays…
Chiral active materials are abundant in nature, including the cytoskeleton with attached motor proteins, rotary clusters of bacteria flagella, and self-spinning starfish embryos. These materials break both time reversal and mirror-image…
Coexistence of order and fluidity in soft matter often mimics that in biology, allowing for complex dynamics and applications like displays. In active soft matter, emergent order can arise because of such dynamics. Powered by local energy…
Static nonreciprocal forces between particles generically drive persistent motion reminiscent of self-propulsion. Here, we demonstrate that reciprocity-breaking fluctuations about a reciprocal mean coupling strength are sufficient to…