Dynamics of self-organization in dense persistent active matter

TL;DR

This study investigates how dense active matter self-organizes into correlated structures, revealing long-range velocity correlations and bidirectional flow patterns through simulations, advancing understanding of non-equilibrium phase behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation analysis of self-organization and velocity correlations in dense active matter with persistent forces, highlighting novel long-range correlations and flow dynamics.

Findings

Long-range velocity correlations develop above a force threshold.

Self-organized states feature two opposing flow streams.

Correlation growth resembles phase-ordering kinetics.

Abstract

We consider a two-dimensional athermal binary mixture of Lennard-Jones particles with persistent random active forces. The liquid phase of this system for active forces exceeding a threshold value exhibits self-organization with long-range spatial correlations of particle velocities and active forces. We study by simulations the development of these correlations from a random initial state. Several characteristics of the growth of correlations are measured and compared with those of phase-ordering kinetics of equilibrium systems after a quench from a disordered state. The motion of the particles in the long-time steady state is found to be dominated by two streams that flow in opposite directions.