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    Diffuse-interface theory of active nematic interfaces: Transport mechanisms and modal structure

    Rodrigo C. V. Coelho1,2, Mykola Tasinkevych2,3,4, and Margarida M. Telo da Gama2,3,4

    Phys. Rev. E 114, 035403 – Published 2 September, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1qd6-z6dc

    Abstract

    We develop a long-wavelength theory for the linear stability of a diffuse interface between an active nematic and an isotropic phase. The starting point is a Cahn-Hilliard-Landau-de Gennes description of the coexistence profile, coupled to Brinkman-screened Stokes hydrodynamics. Small perturbations are projected onto three interfacial degrees of freedom: the conserved height mode associated with translations of the coexistence profile, a scalar profile-distortion mode, and a transverse orientational mode corresponding to director rotations. In the screened hydrodynamic regime, activity generates a local analytic contribution, proportional to q2, to the height-sector dynamics. This term competes with the passive conserved capillary relaxation, which enters at order q4, and can destabilize the interface even when the homogeneous active nematic is below its bulk instability threshold. The scalar profile-distortion mode is gapped and can be eliminated at long wavelengths. The transverse orientational mode plays a different role: if its full relaxation rate is positive, it renormalizes the effective scalar height equation; if it remains soft, the long-wavelength instability is described by a coupled height-director mode. The resulting framework separates two issues that are often intertwined in active-interface problems. The first is the transport mechanism, which may be local and analytic for a screened diffuse interface or nonanalytic when long-ranged outer flow produces terms such as |q|. The second is the modal structure of the unstable branch, which may be predominantly heightlike or intrinsically coupled to director rotations.

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