Inclusions, Boundaries and Disorder in Scalar Active Matter

TL;DR

This paper reviews the unique mechanical and dynamical properties of dry scalar active matter, emphasizing how boundaries, inclusions, and disorder influence their behavior and phase separation.

Contribution

It provides a unifying perspective on how environmental factors like boundaries and disorder affect the physics of active matter, highlighting their sensitivity compared to passive systems.

Findings

Active systems exhibit non-trivial impacts on their environment.

Disorder can suppress phase separation in active matter.

Active matter's response to boundaries and inclusions is complex and far-reaching.

Abstract

Active systems are driven out of equilibrium by exchanging energy and momentum with their environment. This endows them with anomalous mechanical properties that we review in this colloquium for the case of dry scalar active matter, which has attracted considerable attention. These unusual properties lead to a rich physics when active fluids are in contact with boundaries, inclusions, tracers, or disordered potentials. Indeed, studies of the mechanical pressure of active fluids and of the dynamics of passive tracers have shown that active systems impact their environment in non-trivial ways, for example, by propelling and rotating anisotropic inclusions. Conversely, the long-ranged density and current modulations induced by localized obstacles show how the environment can have a far-reaching impact on active fluids. This is best exemplified by the propensity of bulk and boundary disorder to destroy bulk phase separation in active matter, showing active systems to be much more sensitive to their surroundings than passive ones. This colloquium aims at providing a unifying perspective on the rich interplay between active systems and their environments.