| 01/2025 Ensemble inequivalence in the design of mixtures with super-Gibbs phase coexistence Filipe C. Thewes et al. Designing the phase behavior of multicomponent mixtures is a rich area with many potential applications. One key question is how more than $M+1$ phases, as would normally be allowed by Gibbs' phase rule at generic temperature in a mixture of $M$ molecular species, can be made to coexist in equilibrium. In the grandcanonical ensemble, such super-Gibbs phase equilibria can be realized by tuning … |
| 01/2025 Non-reciprocal mixtures in suspension: the role of hydrodynamic interactions Giulia Pisegna et al. The collective chasing dynamics of non-reciprocally coupled densities leads to stable travelling waves which can be mapped to a model for emergent flocking. In this work, we couple the non-reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard model (NRCH) to a fluid to minimally describe scalar active mixtures in a suspension, with the aim to explore the stability of the waves, i.e. the emergent flock in the presence of self- … |
| 12/2024 What should a neuron aim for? Designing local objective functions based on information theory Andreas C. Schneider et al. In modern deep neural networks, the learning dynamics of the individual neurons is often obscure, as the networks are trained via global optimization. Conversely, biological systems build on self-organized, local learning, achieving robustness and efficiency with limited global information. We here show how self-organization between individual artificial neurons can be achieved by designing abstra … |
| 11/2024 An elastoplastic model approach for the relaxation dynamics of active glasses Tanmoy Ghosh et al. How activity affects the glassy dynamics is crucial for several biological processes. Furthermore, active glasses offer fascinating phenomenologies, extend the scope of equilibrium glasses, and can provide novel insights into the original problem. We introduce a family of novel approaches to investigating the relaxation dynamics of active glasses via an active elastoplastic model (EPM). These appr … |
| 11/2024 Phase Coexistence in Nonreciprocal Quorum-Sensing Active Matter Yu Duan et al. Motility and nonreciprocity are two primary mechanisms for self-organization in active matter. In a recent study [Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 148301 (2023)], we explored their joint influence in a minimal model of two-species quorum-sensing active particles interacting via mutual motility regulation. Our results notably revealed a highly dynamic phase of chaotic chasing bands that is absent when either … |
| 09/2024 Isovolumetric dividing active matter Samantha R. Lish et al. We introduce and theoretically investigate a minimal particle-based model for a new class of active matter where particles exhibit directional, volume-conserving division in confinement while interacting sterically, mimicking cells in early embryogenesis. We find that complex motion, synchronized within division cycles, displays strong collective effects and becomes self-similar in the long-time l … |
| 09/2024 Condensate Size Control by Net Charge Chengjie Luo et al. Biomolecular condensates are complex droplets comprising diverse molecules that interact using various mechanisms. Condensation is often driven by short-ranged attraction, but net charges can also mediate long-ranged repulsion. Using molecular dynamics simulations and an equilibrium field theory, we show that such opposing interactions can suppress coarsening so that many droplets of equal size co … |
| 09/2024 Fluctuation Dissipation Relations for Active Field Theories Martin Kjøllesdal Johnsrud et al. Breakdown of time-reversal symmetry is a defining property of non-equilibrium systems, such as active matter, which is composed of units that consume energy. We employ a formalism that allows us to derive a class of identities associated with the time-reversal transformation in non-equilibrium field theories, in the spirit of Ward-Takahashi identities. We present a generalization of the fluctuatio … |
| 09/2024 Bayesian inference of wall torques for active Brownian particles Sascha Lambert et al. The motility of living things and synthetic self-propelled objects is often described using Active Brownian particles. To capture the interaction of these particles with their often complex environment, this model can be augmented with empirical forces or torques, for example, to describe their alignment with an obstacle or wall after a collision. Here, we assess the quality of these empirical mod … |
| 09/2024 A minimal model of smoothly dividing disk-shaped cells Lukas Hupe et al. Replication through cell division is one of the most fundamental processes of life and a major driver of dynamics in systems ranging from bacterial colonies to embryogenesis, tissues and tumors. While regulation often plays a role in shaping self-organization, mounting evidence suggests that many biologically relevant behaviors exploit principles based on a limited number of physical ingredients, … |