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  • Open Access

Breakup of an Active Chiral Fluid

Luke Neville1,2,3,*, Jens Eggers2,†, and Tanniemola B. Liverpool2,3,‡

  • *Contact author: lajn@mit.edu
  • †Contact author: jens.eggers@bristol.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: t.liverpool@bristol.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 088302 – Published 19 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w2n2-zzkd

Abstract

We study the breakup dynamics of a two-dimensional strip of active chiral fluid using continuum hydrodynamics. Using slender body theory, we show that the breakup is driven by the interplay between chiral and surface tension forces, and that the minimum strip thickness decays to zero as a power law in finite time. The power law exponent and corresponding scaling function describing the shape of the strip near the break point are computed analytically, and shown to be in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of the underlying hydrodynamics. Qualitative agreement between experiment and simulation is also found.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 088302– Published 19 August, 2026
  • Received 16 July 2025
  • Accepted 21 April 2026
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