The Mechanics and Statistics of Active Matter

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in the theoretical understanding of active matter, focusing on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and hydrodynamics to describe collective behaviors of active particles like living organisms and inanimate systems.

Contribution

It provides a unified theoretical framework for diverse active matter systems, integrating theory and experimental findings with minimal microscopic detail.

Findings

Development of a systematic theory for active matter behavior

Unified description encompassing living and inanimate active systems

Integration of theory and experimental results

Abstract

Active particles contain internal degrees of freedom with the ability to take in and dissipate energy and, in the process, execute systematic movement. Examples include all living organisms and their motile constituents such as molecular motors. This article reviews recent progress in applying the principles of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and hydrodynamics to form a systematic theory of the behaviour of collections of active particles -- active matter -- with only minimal regard to microscopic details. A unified view of the many kinds of active matter is presented, encompassing not only living systems but inanimate analogues. Theory and experiment are discussed side by side.