Using the force landscape of an active solid to predict plastic deformation

TL;DR

This paper extends the concept of force landscapes from passive to active disordered solids, demonstrating that force-based excitations can predict plastic events in active matter systems like self-propelled rods.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized force landscape framework for active matter and shows that nonlinear excitations can predict plasticity in active solids.

Findings

Force-based cubic excitations predict plastic events in active matter.

The framework extends traditional energy landscape concepts to active systems.

Control of plasticity in active solids is achieved through these predictions.

Abstract

Non-active disordered solids feature quasilocalized excitations that control plasticity, similar to crystal lattice defects, and these excitations can be identified via harmonic or anharmonic analyses of the potential energy landscape. Here we explore whether such ideas can be extended to active matter, focusing on dense packings of self-propelled rods. We generalize the definition of nonlinear excitations to force landscapes that incorporate active, non-conservative forces and find that force-based cubic excitations robustly predict future plastic events, enabling control of active solids.