Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 2: Active Matter I (joint session DY/BP/CPP)
BP 2.9: Talk
Monday, March 17, 2025, 12:00–12:15, H37
Inertial active matter governed by Coulomb friction — •Alexander Antonov1, Lorenzo Caprini2, and Hartmut Löwen1 — 1Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany — 2University of Rome La Sapenzia, Rome, Italy
Coulomb, or dry friction, is a common phenomenon that can be encountered in various systems, such as granular matter or Brownian motors. The Coulomb friction force resists the motion and, unlike the friction in wet systems, is almost independent of the relative velocity. We show that this characteristic feature of Coulomb friction leads to emergence of dynamical states when subjected to active, or self-propelled motion [1]. At low activity levels, the dynamics resembles Brownian motion, while at greater activity, a dynamic Stop & Go regime emerges, marked by continuous switching between diffusion and accelerated motion. At even higher activity levels, a super-mobile regime arises, characterized by fully accelerated motion and an anomalous scaling of the diffusion coefficient with activity. Near the transition between the Stop & Go and super-mobile regimes, we reveal a novel activity-induced phase separation in collective behavior [2]. Our theoretical findings have been also demonstrated in experiments, where vibrobots on a horizontal surface are activated by vertical oscillations generated using an electromagnetic shaker.
[1] A.P. Antonov, L. Caprini, A. Ldov, C. Scholz, and H. Löwen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 198301 (2024)
[2] A.P. Antonov et al., in preparation.
Keywords: Active matter; Granular matter; Coulomb friction; Phase separation