Field-controlled interfacial transport and pinning in an active spin system

TL;DR

This study investigates how weak external fields influence phase behavior and interface dynamics in an active matter model, revealing field-induced phase reconfiguration, interface pinning, and size-dependent disorder effects.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal active Potts particle model coupled to external fields, demonstrating how weak fields reconfigure phases and induce interface pinning in active systems.

Findings

Weak fields reshape phase coexistence into field-aligned polar phases.

Interface pinning occurs at regions with opposite field directions, causing oscillatory motion.

Disorder effects align with Imry-Ma and Aizenman-Wehr theorems, modified by activity.

Abstract

Field control provides a practical route to programmable active matter, yet how weak fields modify non-equilibrium coexistence and interfaces remains unclear. To address this, we study a minimal flocking model of active Potts particles coupled to an external field and show that even weak fields can reconfigure phase behavior and interfacial dynamics. For a homogeneous unidirectional field, the flocking phase is reshaped: the coexistence regime between an apolar gas and a polar liquid is replaced by a phase separation between two field-aligned polar phases: a low-density, weakly polarized background and a high-density, strongly polarized band, both moving along the field. When the system forms a dense longitudinal lane oriented transverse to the field, it executes a slow treadmilling motion against the field, driven by the weakly polarized background. If the system is divided into regions with opposite field directions, particles accumulate at the interface, leading to field-induced interface pinning with flocks performing back-and-forth oscillatory motion. In the presence of quenched random field orientations, this pinning favors a disordered state in which global order diminishes with increasing system size, consistent with Imry-Ma arguments, while the quenched disorder smoothens sharp first-order signatures, in line with the Aizenman-Wehr theorem, with activity modifying the scaling. A coarse-grained hydrodynamic theory supports these observations and is consistent with microscopic simulations.