Dynamical density functional theory for colloidal particles with arbitrary shape

TL;DR

This paper develops a microscopic dynamical density functional theory for colloidal particles of arbitrary shape, including active and passive particles, enabling the study of their collective behavior in nonequilibrium conditions.

Contribution

It extends existing theories to biaxial particles of arbitrary shape, unifying passive and active particle dynamics within a single framework.

Findings

Recover previous theories for spherical and uniaxial particles

Provides a basis for exploring collective behavior of biaxial colloids

Applicable to both passive and active self-propelled particles

Abstract

Starting from the many-particle Smoluchowski equation, we derive dynamical density functional theory for Brownian particles with an arbitrary shape. Both passive and active (self-propelled) particles are considered. The resulting theory constitutes a microscopic framework to explore the collective dynamical behavior of biaxial particles in nonequilibrium. For spherical and uniaxial particles, earlier derived dynamical density functional theories are recovered as special cases. Our study is motivated by recent experimental progress in preparing colloidal particles with many different biaxial shapes.