Related papers: Spontaneous flow transition in active polar gels
We consider a confined sheared active polar liquid crystal with a uniform orientation and study the effect of variations in the magnitude of polarization. Restricting our analysis to one-dimensional geometries, we demonstrate that with…
Using novel micro-printing techniques, we develop a versatile experimental setup that allows us to study how lateral confinement tames the active flows and defect properties of the microtubule/kinesin active nematic system. We demonstrate…
We propose a generic model for thin films and shallow drops of a polar active liquid that have a free surface and are in contact with a solid substrate. The model couples evolution equations for the film height and the local polarization…
During cell division active flows occur in the cortex, a thin layer of gel like network of acto myosin filaments, beneath the cell surface. The cortical flow and the associated stresses bring about change in the cell shape, in particular a…
We present a generic model of cell motility generated by acto-myosin contraction of the cell cortex. We identify analytically dynamical instabilities of the cortex and show that they trigger spontaneous cortical flows which in turn can…
The dynamics of dry active matter have implications for a diverse collection of biological phenomena spanning a range of length and time scales, such as animal flocking, cell tissue dynamics, and swarming of inserts and bacteria. Uniting…
We present experiments on the behavior of reaction fronts in ordered and disordered cellular flows with imposed winds. Fronts in a chain of alternating vortices are found to freeze (pin to the separatrix) for a wide range of imposed winds…
Active fluids exhibit spontaneous flows with complex spatiotemporal structure, which have been observed in bacterial suspensions, sperm cells, cytoskeletal suspensions, self-propelled colloids, and cell tissues. Despite occurring in the…
Self-propelled particles accumulate on repulsive barriers in so-called active wetting, but the relationship between this process and equilibrium wetting remains unclear. Using an exact (noiseless) hydrodynamic framework for an active…
Chaotic transitions in inertial fluids typically proceed through a direct energy cascade from large to small scales. In contrast, active systems, composed of self propelled units, inject energy at microscopic scales and therefore exhibit an…
Regulation to a well-defined target state is a fundamental requirement for achieving reliable functionality in living systems and maintaining specific non-equilibrium states. The control of certain properties and functionalities of systems…
We construct a coarse-grained effective two-dimensional (2d) hydrodynamic theory as a theoretical model for a coupled system of a fluid membrane and a thin layer of a polar active fluid in its ordered state that is anchored to the membrane.…
We develop a series of approximations to calculate free energy of a polar liquid. We show that long range nature of dipole interactions between the molecules leads to para-electric state instability at low temperatures and to a second-order…
Confinement can modify the dynamics, the thermodynamics and the structural properties of liquid water, the prototypical anomalous liquid. By considering a general anomalous liquid, suitable for globular proteins, colloids or liquid metals,…
We present a comparative computer simulation study of the phase diagrams and anomalous behavior of two-dimensional ($2D$) and quasi-two-dimensional ($q2D$) classical particles interacting with each other through isotropic core-softened…
Boundary conditions dictate how fluids, including liquid crystals, flow when pumped through a channel. Can boundary conditions also be used to control internally driven active fluids that generate flows spontaneously? By using numerical…
Recent experimental realizations of liquid-liquid phase separation of active liquid crystals have offered an insight into the interaction between phase separation, ubiquitous in soft matter and biology, and chaotic active flows. In this…
A microscopic field theory for crystallization in active systems is proposed which unifies the phase-field-crystal model of freezing with the Toner-Tu theory for self-propelled particles. A wealth of different active crystalline states are…
We report numerical results for the hydrodynamics of inhomogeneous lyotropic and extensile active nematic gels. By simulating the coupled Cahn-Hilliard, Navier-Stokes, and Beris-Edwards equation for the evolution of the composition, flow…
Active nematic fluids exhibit complex dynamics in both bulk and in simple confining geometries. However, complex confining geometries could have substantial impact on active spontaneous flows. Using multiparticle collision dynamics…