Confinement and collective escape of active particles

TL;DR

This paper investigates how active particles become trapped and escape in confined environments, revealing the formation of crystalline condensates and collective escape mechanisms, thus advancing understanding of confinement effects in active matter.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed study of trapping and collective escape in active particles, highlighting the formation of crystalline condensates and their dynamics under confinement.

Findings

Captured particles form crystalline orbiting condensates.

Increasing particles leads to collective escape of the condensate.

Confinement influences active matter behavior significantly.

Abstract

Active matter broadly covers the dynamics of self-propelled particles. While the onset of collective behavior in homogenous active systems is relatively well understood, the effect of inhomogeneities such as obstacles and traps lacks overall clarity. Here, we study how interacting self-propelled particles become trapped and released from a trap. We have found that captured particles aggregate into an orbiting condensate with a crystalline structure. As more particles are added, the trapped condensate escape as a whole. Our results shed light on the effects of confinement and quenched disorder in active matter.