软凝聚态物质
Cells are defined by lipid membranes that differ in their structure across the tree of life. While the membranes of most bacteria and eukaryotes consist of single-headed bilayer lipids, the membranes of archaea are composed of mixtures of…
We investigate and exploit consequences of the recent neural metadensity functional theory [Kampa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 107301 (2025), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.107301] for describing the physics of inhomogeneous fluids. The…
Granular systems confined in a shallow box and driven by vertical vibration provide a simple geometry to study fluidized granular media. Grains gain kinetic energy vertically through collisions with the walls and redistribute it…
Soft, microscale hydrogel fibers and rods play important roles in tissue engineering, flexible electronics, soft robotics, drug delivery, sensors, and other applications. Their viscoelastic mechanical properties, while critical for their…
Determining fluid-crystal phase boundaries via direct-coexistence methods can be challenging due to the fact that the simulation box can introduce crystal strain. Recently, a direct-coexistence approach was developed which allows one to…
The pinch-off of bubbles in viscoelastic liquids is a fundamental process that has received little attention compared to viscoelastic drop pinch-off. While these processes exhibit qualitative similarities, the dynamics of the pinch-off…
We reproduce the Debye process in the dielectric response of liquid 1-propanol by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations between 340 K and 200 K. The analysis of dipolar correlations reveals that the $\alpha$ relaxation originates from…
The Hopf index, a topological invariant that quantifies the linking of preimage fibers, is fundamental to the structure and stability of hopfions. In this work, we propose a new mathematical framework for modeling hopfions with high Hopf…
Mechanical metamaterials have continued to offer unprecedented tunability in mechanical properties, but most designs to date have prioritized attaining high stiffness and strength while sacrificing deformability. The emergence of woven…
Composite materials are used across engineering applications for their superior mechanical performance, a result of efficient load transfer between the structure and matrix phases. However, the inherently two-dimensional structure of…
Mechanical metamaterials are renowned for their ability to achieve high stiffness and strength at low densities, often at the expense of low ductility and stretchability-a persistent trade-off in materials. In contrast, materials such as…
Fluid flow has a major effect on the aggregation and fragmentation of bacterial colonies. Yet, a generic framework to understand and predict how hydrodynamics affects colony size remains elusive. This study investigates how fluid flow…
Freshwater scarcity demands desalination technologies that are efficient, scalable, and sustainable. Capacitive deionisation (CDI) is promising but remains limited by inefficient ion adsorption and poor charge utilisation. Here, we show…
Active matter systems characterized by the interplay of chirality and self-alignment offer a rich landscape for the emergence of non-equilibrium collective behaviors and the development of autonomous materials. We present a versatile…
Collective rotations are common in active matter, enhancing cohesion, transport, and mixing. They are typically attributed to chiral non-reciprocal dynamics due to intrinsic particle chirality, torque-generating interactions among units, or…
Electrical discharge at the smallest possible length and charge scales is not well understood. Using optical tweezers, we investigate spontaneous discharges of a single micron-scale particle levitated in air. These ``microdischarges'' have…
The temperature increase in the contact regions between solids in sliding contact has a huge influence on friction and wear. Here we test an analytical theory for the flash temperature, valid for randomly rough surface with multiscale…
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) integrated within thermoresponsive polymeric microgels provide a versatile platform for the realization of stimuli-responsive optical materials, where the microgel volume phase transition enables dynamic…
Molecular dynamics is a powerful tool to investigate the properties of fluid systems. However, a correct interpretation of the results of simulations is required. In particular, some simulations show appearance of large voids in liquids,…
We develop a kinetic theory of cohesin-driven loop extrusion on a disordered chromatin track with transient barriers. In the stationary state, the mean loop size is shown to obey a universal law determined by the bare processivity and a…