Emergent Organization and Polarization due to Active Fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper models active Brownian particles with multiplicative noise, revealing how active fluctuations alter density profiles and induce polarization, impacting phase separation and self-organization in active matter systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model incorporating multiplicative noise in active Brownian motion, showing how active fluctuations influence density and polarization patterns.

Findings

Active fluctuations modify stationary density profiles.

Activity gradients induce polarization at interfaces.

Active noise impacts motility-induced phase separation.

Abstract

We introduce and study a model of active Brownian motion with multiplicative noise describing fluctuations in the self-propulsion or activity. We find that the standard picture of density accumulation in slow regions is qualitatively modified by active fluctuations, as stationary density profiles are generally not determined only by the mean self-propulsion speed landscape. As a result, activity gradients generically correlate the particle self-propulsion speed and orientation, leading to emergent polarization at interfaces pointing either towards dense or dilute regions depending on the amount of noise in the system. We discuss how active noise affects the emergence of motility induced phase separation. Our work provides a foundation for systematic studies of active matter self-organization in the presence of activity landscapes and active fluctuations.