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Spontaneous directional flow of active magnetic particles

Amir Nourhani1,2,3,4,5,* and David Saintillan6,†

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
  • 2Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
  • 3Department of Mathematics, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
  • 4Department of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
  • 5Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
  • 6Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA

  • *nourhani@uakron.edu
  • †dstn@ucsd.edu
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Phys. Rev. E 103, L040601 – Published 8 April, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.103.L040601

Abstract

We predict the emergence of large-scale polar order and spontaneous directional flows in a class of self-propelled autonomous particles that interact via passive repulsion between off-center sites. The coupling of active motion with the passive torque acting about the particle centers results in hybrid active–passive interactions responsible for a macroscopic phase transition from an isotropic state to a polar-aligned state in systems of particles with front interaction sites. We employ a continuum kinetic theory to explain that the emergence of long-ranged orientational order, which occurs in unbounded domains at finite densities, can be externally activated independently of the self-propulsion mechanism and drives a macroscopic particle flow in a direction selected by symmetry breaking.

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Phys. Rev. E 103, L040601– Published 8 April, 2021
  • Received 7 January 2021
  • Accepted 17 March 2021
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