Symmetry-breaking in clogging for oppositely driven particles

TL;DR

This paper investigates how symmetric mixtures of oppositely driven particles clog and unclog in constrictions, revealing spontaneous symmetry-breaking, self-organized oscillations, and potential applications across physics, biology, and crowd dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a combined simulation and theoretical study of symmetry-breaking and oscillations in clogging phenomena for oppositely driven particles.

Findings

Spontaneous symmetry-breaking where one species flows while the other is blocked.

Self-organized oscillations in clogging and unclogging dynamics.

The ability to control these behaviors via constriction size.

Abstract

The clogging behavior of a symmetric binary mixture of particles that are driven in opposite directions through constrictions is explored by Brownian dynamics simulations and theory. A dynamical state with a spontaneously broken symmetry occurs where one species is flowing and the other is blocked for a long time which can be tailored by the size of the constrictions. Moreover, we find self-organized oscillations in clogging and unclogging of the two species. Apart from statistical physics, our results are of relevance for fields like biology, chemistry, and crowd management, where ions, microparticles, pedestrians, or other particles are driven in opposite directions through constrictions.