Hagan Group

Motility-Driven Phase Separation of Repulsive Self-Propelled Spheres in 2D

This movie gives an overview of the phase behavior observed in simulations of repulsive self-propelled spheres confined to a 2D surface.

Each box corresponds to a separate, independent simulation. The axes labels indicate the Peclet number (Pe = ratio of propulsion velocity to diffusion) and area fraction f corresponding to each simulation. The simulations in the upper right corner (high area fraction and high propulsion velocity) undergo phase separation into a dilute isotropic gas and a dense crystalline active solid. The simulations are described in G.S. Redner, M.F. Hagan, and A. Baskaran, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2013. 110(5): 055701.