SKM 2023 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 4: Active Matter I (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

CPP 4.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 27, 2023, 09:30–10:00, TOE 317

Emergent properties in motile active matter — •Roland G. Winkler — Theoretical Physics of Living Matter (IBI-5/IAS-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich

Motile active matter systems, ranging from assemblies of bacteria, self-organized bio-polymers such as the cytoskeleton of living cells, to schools of fish and flocks of birds, exhibit intriguing emerging structural and dynamical out-of-equilibrium properties, even with reminiscence to classical turbulence. Their spatiotemporal dynamics is controlled by the propulsion of the active agents in combination with various direct interactions. The latter are typically anisotropic and emerge from different sources, such as elongated agent shapes, intrinsic flexibility and constraints, microswimmer flow fields etc. By analytical theory and mesoscale simulations, we study the physical aspects of motile active matter, ranging from propulsion of bacteria and linear filaments to large-scale collective properties of active agents, and unravel its generic features. Studies on individual polymers reveal fundamental differences in their dynamical and conformational properties depending on their propulsion mechanism, which is illustrated for polymers either tangentially driven or composed of active Brownian particles. In the latter case, hydrodynamic interactions additionally affect the conformational properties, in contrasts to passive polymers. Moreover, hydrodynamic interactions determine the activity-induced phase behavior. For spherical microswimmers (squirmers), hydrodynamics suppresses motility-induced phase separation, but enhances collective turbulent-like large-scale flows.