Optimizing active work: Dynamical phase transitions, collective motion, and jamming

TL;DR

This paper investigates large deviations in active work of repulsive active Brownian disks, revealing dynamical phase transitions between arrested, typical, and aligned collective motion states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of dynamical phase transitions in active matter, linking active work to collective motion and jamming phenomena.

Findings

Minimizing active work leads to dynamical arrest.

High active work trajectories show collective alignment.

Dynamical phase transitions separate different motion regimes.

Abstract

Active work measures how far the local self-forcing of active particles translates into real motion. Using Population Monte Carlo methods, we investigate large deviations in the active work for repulsive active Brownian disks. Minimizing the active work generically results in dynamical arrest; in contrast, despite the lack of aligning interactions, trajectories of high active work correspond to a collectively moving, aligned state. We use heuristic and analytic arguments to explain the origin of dynamical phase transitions separating the arrested, typical, and aligned regimes.