Statistical mechanics of an active wheel rolling in circles

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a symmetrical mini wheel on a vibrating plate can spontaneously self-propel in circular, chiral trajectories, revealing new insights into active matter physics and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental system where symmetry breaking induces chiral active dynamics in a symmetric wheel, expanding understanding of active matter behavior.

Findings

Spontaneous symmetry breaking leads to chiral motion.

Velocity distribution is non-Gaussian with multiple peaks.

Phase transition from passive to active state occurs with vibration amplitude.

Abstract

Vibrated granular matter constitutes a useful system for studying the physics of active matter. Usually, self-propulsion is induced in grains through suitable asymmetry in the particle design. In this paper, we show that a symmetrical mini wheel placed on a vibrating plate self-propels along circular trajectories, showing chiral active dynamics. The chiral activity emerges through a sequence of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the particle's kinetics. The fact that isotropy, fore-aft, and chiral symmetries are broken spontaneously leads to distinct statistics, which include a temporal evolution involving stochastic resetting, a non-Gaussian velocity distribution with multiple peaks, broad power-law curvature distribution, and a bounded chirality probability, along with a phase transition from passive achiral to active chiral state as a function of vibration amplitude. Our study establishes the vibrated wheel as a three-state chiral active system that can serve as a model experimental system to study the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and stochastic thermodynamics of chiral active systems and can inspire novel locomotion strategies in robotics.