Instabilities and Topological Defects in Active Nematics
Soft Condensed Matter
2015-06-18 v1 Biological Physics
Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
We study a continuum model of an extensile active nematic to show that mesoscale turbulence develops in two stages: (i) ordered regions undergo an intrinsic hydrodynamic instability generating walls, lines of stong bend deformations, (ii) the walls relax by forming oppositely charged pairs of defects. Both creation and annihilation of defect pairs reinstate nematic regions which undergo further instabilities, leading to a dynamic steady state. We compare this with the development of active turbulence in a contractile active nematic.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1312.4836,
title = {Instabilities and Topological Defects in Active Nematics},
author = {Sumesh P. Thampi and Ramin Golestanian and Julia M. Yeomans},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.4836},
year = {2015}
}