Hyperuniform density fluctuations and diverging dynamic correlations in periodically driven colloidal suspensions

TL;DR

This study reveals that in periodically driven colloidal suspensions, a nonequilibrium phase transition is associated with hyperuniform density fluctuations and diverging dynamic correlations, providing insights into particle irreversibility and glassy dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the coexistence of hyperuniform static density fluctuations and diverging dynamic correlations near the transition, linking phase transition and dynamic heterogeneities in driven colloids.

Findings

Hyperuniform static density fluctuations near the transition

Diverging lengthscales of dynamic correlations

Intermittent and non-Fickian single particle dynamics

Abstract

The emergence of particle irreversibility in periodically driven colloidal suspensions has been interpreted as resulting either from a nonequilibrium phase transition to an absorbing state or from the chaotic nature of particle trajectories. Using a simple model of a driven suspension we show that a nonequilibrium phase transition is accompanied by hyperuniform static density fluctuations in the vicinity of the transition, where we also observe strong dynamic heterogeneities reminiscent of dynamics in glassy materials. We find that single particle dynamics becomes intermittent and strongly non-Fickian, and that collective dynamics becomes spatially correlated over diverging lengthscales. Our results suggest that the two theoretical scenarii can be experimentally discriminated using particle-resolved measurements of standard static and dynamic observables.