Related papers: Symmetry-Breaking Motility
We describe simulations of active Brownian particles carried out to explore how dynamics and clustering are influenced by particle shape. Our particles are composed of four disks, held together by springs, whose relative size can be varied.…
Propulsion of otherwise passive objects is achieved by mechanisms of active driving. We concentrate on cases in which the direction of active drive is subject to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In our case, this direction will be maintained,…
A motile cell, when stimulated, shows a dramatic increase in the activity of its membrane, manifested by the appearance of dynamic membrane structures such as lamellipodia, filopodia and membrane ruffles. The external stimulus turns on…
We discover a new type of nonequilibrium phase transition in a model of chromatin dynamics, which accounts for the coherent motions that have been observed in experiment. The coherent motion is due to the long-range cooperation of molecular…
We present fully atomistic Molecular Dynamics simulation results on a main-chain polymer, 1,4-Polybutadiene, in the merging region of the $\alpha$- and $beta$-relaxations. A real space analysis reveals the occurrence of localized motions…
We analyze the motion of individual beads of a polymer chain using a discrete version of De Gennes' reptation model that describes the motion of a polymer through an ordered lattice of obstacles. The motion within the tube can be evaluated…
Active matter comprised of self-propelled interacting units holds a major promise for extraction of useful work from its seemingly chaotic out-of-equilibrium dynamics. Streamlining active matter to produce work is especially important at…
Movements of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments are described by directed walks on a line. Detachment from this line is allowed to occur with a small probability. Motion in the surrounding fluid is described by symmetric random…
Many active particles, both of biological and synthetic origin, can have a light controllable propulsion speed, a property that in biology is commonly referred to as photokinesis. Here we investigate directed transport of photokinetic…
We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a crowded, viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the centre of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the…
With the aim of understanding the emergence of collective motion from local interactions of organisms in a "noisy" environment, we study biologically inspired, inherently non-equilibrium models consisting of self-propelled particles. In…
We experimentally investigate the dynamics of synthetic active particles composed of gravitationally bouncing, superwalking droplets confined within an annular fluid bath. Driven by a topologically pumping dual-frequency waveform, the…
The mechanism of propulsion of host bacteria under the action of actin gel networks is examined by means of a continuum model of the dynamics of F-actin concentration. The model includes the elasticity of the network, its attachment to the…
Controlling the phases of matter is a challenge that spans from condensed materials to biological systems. Here, by imposing a geometric boundary condition, we study controlled collective motion of Escherichia coli bacteria. A circular…
We investigate theoretically the collective dynamics of soft active particles living in a viscous fluid. We focus on a minimal model for active but non-motile particles consisting of $N>1$ elastic dimers deformed by active stresses and…
The sedimentation process in a suspension of bacteria is the result of the competition between gravity and the intrinsic motion of the microorganisms. We perform simulations of run-and-tumble "squirmers" that move in a fluid medium,…
Drops of active liquid crystal have recently shown the ability to self-propel, which was associated with topological defects in the orientation of active filaments [Sanchez {\em et al.}, Nature {\bf 491}, 431 (2013)]. Here, we study the…
The diffusion in two dimensions of non-interacting active particles that follow an arbitrary motility pattern is considered for analysis. Accordingly, the transport equation is generalized to take into account an arbitrary distribution of…
In this work we study the assisted translocation of a polymer across a membrane nanopore, inside which a molecular motor exerts a force fuelled by the hydrolysis of ATP molecules. In our model the motor switches to its active state for a…
Using a fully analytical theory, we compute the leading order corrections to the translational, rotational and translation-rotation coupling mobilities of an arbitrary axisymmetric particle immersed in a Newtonian fluid moving near an…