Self-organized dynamics of a viscous drop with interfacial nematic activity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interfacial nematic activity influences the complex self-organized behaviors of viscous drops, revealing mechanisms behind defect dynamics, shape changes, and active turbulence through hydrodynamic simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation framework to explore the emergent behaviors of active nematic interfaces on viscous drops, connecting theoretical predictions with experimental observations.

Findings

Identification of defect braiding and chaotic dynamics

Observation of spontaneous shape changes and translation

Reproduction of experimental features of active interfaces

Abstract

We study emergent dynamics in a viscous drop subject to interfacial nematic activity. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show how the interplay of nematodynamics, activity-driven flows and surface deformations gives rise to a sequence of self-organized behaviors of increasing complexity, from periodic braiding motions of topological defects to chaotic defect dynamics and active turbulence, along with spontaneous shape changes and translation. Our findings recapitulate qualitative features of experiments and shed light on the mechanisms underpinning morphological dynamics in active interfaces.