Physically-informed data-driven modeling of active nematics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel data-driven modeling approach for active nematics, successfully capturing experimental behaviors and revealing that elastic effects are negligible, with dynamics driven by active and friction stresses.

Contribution

It presents a physically-informed data-driven method to construct continuum models of active nematics directly from experimental data, highlighting key differences from classical models.

Findings

Model structure similar to Leslie-Ericksen and Beris-Edwards models

Elastic effects are negligible in the studied active nematic system

Dynamics are governed by active stresses and friction stresses

Abstract

A continuum description is essential for understanding a variety of collective phenomena in active matter. However, building quantitative continuum models of active matter from first principles can be extremely challenging due to both the gaps in our knowledge and the complicated structure of nonlinear interactions. Here we use a novel physically-informed data-driven approach to construct a complete mathematical model of an active nematic from experimental data describing kinesin-driven microtubule bundles confined to an oil-water interface. We find that the structure of the model is similar to the Leslie-Ericksen and Beris-Edwards models, but there are significant and important differences. Rather unexpectedly, elastic effects are found to play no role in the experiments considered, with the dynamics controlled entirely by the balance between active stresses and friction stresses.