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 4.7: Talk
Monday, March 27, 2023, 11:30–11:45, TOE 317
Active Nematic Multipoles: Flow Responses and the Dynamics of Defects and Colloids — •Alexander J. H. Houston1,2 and Gareth P. Alexander1,3 — 1Department of Physics, Gibbet Hill Road, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom — 2Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom — 3Centre for Complexity Science, Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
Two fundamental questions in active nematics are how to extract useful work from their non-equilibrium dynamics and how to extend the topological defect-based description of dynamics that has proved useful in two dimensions to three dimensions, in which the defects form geometrically-complex loops. We introduce a general description of localised distortions in active nematics using the framework of `active nematic multipoles'. We give the Stokesian flows for arbitrary multipoles in terms of differentiation of a fundamental flow response and describe them explicitly up to quadrupole order. This allows the identification of the dipolar and quadrupolar distortions that generate self-propulsion and self-rotation respectively and serves as a guide for the design of arbitrary flow responses. Our results can be applied to both defect loops in three-dimensional active nematics and to systems with colloidal inclusions. They reveal the geometry-dependence of the self-dynamics of defect loops and provide insights into how colloids might be designed to achieve propulsive or rotational dynamics, and more generally for the extraction of work from active nematics.