We investigate the effect of stress fluctuations on the stochastic dynamics of an inclusion embedded in a viscous gel. We show that, in nonequilibrium systems, stress fluctuations give rise to an effective attraction towards the boundaries of the confining domain, which is reminiscent of an active Casimir effect. We apply this generic result to the dynamics of deformations of the cell nucleus, and we demonstrate the appearance of a fluctuation maximum at a critical level of activity, in agreement with recent experiments [E. Makhija, D. S. Jokhun, and G. V. Shivashankar, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, E32 (2016)].

Ultrasoft colloids typically do not spontaneously crystallize, but rather vitrify, at high concentrations. Combining in situ rheo–small-angle-neutron-scattering experiments and numerical simulations we show that shear facilitates crystallization of colloidal star polymers in the vicinity of their glass transition. With increasing shear rate well beyond rheological yielding, a transition is found from an initial bcc-dominated structure to an fcc-dominated one. This crystal-to-crystal transition is not accompanied by intermediate melting but occurs via a sudden reorganization of the crystal structure. Our results provide a new avenue to tailor colloidal crystallization and the crystal-to-crystal transition at the molecular level by coupling softness and shear.

Confinement of a slender body into a granular array induces stress localization in the geometrically nonlinear structure, and jamming, reordering, and vertical dislodging of the surrounding granular medium. By varying the initial packing density of grains and the length of a confined elastica, we identify the critical length necessary to induce jamming, and demonstrate how folds couple with the granular medium to localize along grain boundaries. Above the jamming threshold, the characteristic length of elastica deformation is shown to diverge in a manner that is coupled with the motion and rearrangement of the grains, suggesting the ordering of the granular array governs the deformation of the slender structure. However, overconfinement of the elastica will vertically dislodge grains, a form of stress relaxation in the granular medium that illustrates the intricate coupling in elastogranular interactions.

Phase separation under nonequilibrium conditions is exploited by biological cells to organize their cytoplasm but remains poorly understood as a physical phenomenon. Here, we study a ternary fluid model in which phase-separating molecules can be converted into soluble molecules, and vice versa, via chemical reactions. We elucidate using analytical and simulation methods how drop size, formation, and coarsening can be controlled by the chemical reaction rates, and categorize the qualitative behavior of the system into distinct regimes. Ostwald ripening arrest occurs above critical reaction rates, demonstrating that this transition belongs entirely to the nonequilibrium regime. Our model is a minimal representation of the cell cytoplasm.

New experiments show that tensile stress vanishes shortly after preyield deformation of polymer glasses while tensile stress after postyield deformation stays high and relaxes on much longer time scales, thus hinting at a specific molecular origin of stress in ductile cold drawing: chain tension rather than intersegmental interactions. Molecular dynamics simulation based on a coarse-grained model for polystyrene confirms the conclusion that the chain network plays an essential role, causing the glassy state to yield and to respond with a high level of intrachain retractive stress. This identification sheds light on the future development regarding an improved theoretical account for molecular mechanics of polymer glasses and the molecular design of stronger polymeric materials to enhance their mechanical performance.

Molecular dynamics simulations of interacting soft disks confined in a heterogeneous quenched matrix of soft obstacles show dynamics which is fundamentally different from that of hard disks. The interactions between the disks can enhance transport when their density is increased, as disks cooperatively help each other over the finite energy barriers in the matrix. The system exhibits a transition from a diffusive to a localized state, but the transition is strongly rounded. Effective exponents in the mean-squared displacement can be observed over three decades in time but depend on the density of the disks and do not correspond to asymptotic behavior in the vicinity of a critical point, thus, showing that it is incorrect to relate them to the critical exponents in the Lorentz model scenario. The soft interactions are, therefore, responsible for a breakdown of the universality of the dynamics.

Measurements and Langevin dynamics simulations of filamentous viruses driven through solid-state nanopores reveal a superlinear rise in the translocation velocity with driving force. The mobility also scales with the length of the virus in a nontrivial way that depends on the force. These dynamics are consequences of the buckling of the leading portion of a virus as it emerges from the nanopore and is put under compressive stress by the viscous forces it encounters. The leading tip of a buckled virus stalls and this reduces the total viscous drag force. We present a scaling theory that connects the solid mechanics to the nonlinear dynamics of polyelectrolytes translocating nanopores.

The order-disorder phase transition and the associated phase diagrams of semiflexible diblock copolymers are investigated using the wormlike chain model, incorporating concentration fluctuations. The free energy up to quartic order in concentration fluctuations is developed with chain-rigidity-dependent coefficients, evaluated using our exact results for the wormlike chain model, and a one-loop renormalization treatment is used to account for fluctuation effects. The chain length $N$ and the monomer aspect ratio $\alpha$ directly control the strength of immiscibility (defined by the Flory-Huggins parameter $\chi$) at the order-disorder transition and the resulting microstructures at different chemical compositions $f_A$. When monomers are infinitely thin (i.e., large aspect ratio $\alpha$), the finite chain length $N$ lowers the $\chi N$ at the phase transition. However, fluctuation effects become important when chains have a finite radius, and a decrease in the chain length $N$ elevates the $\chi N$ at the phase transition. Phase diagrams of diblock copolymers over a wide range of $N$ and $\alpha$ are calculated based on our fluctuation theory. We find that both finite $N$ and $\alpha$ enhance the stability of the lamellar phase above the order-disorder transition. Our results demonstrate that polymer semiflexibility plays a dramatic role in the phase behavior, even for large chain lengths (e.g., $N\approx 100$).

Disordered fiber networks are ubiquitous in a broad range of natural (e.g., cytoskeleton) and manmade (e.g., aerogels) materials. In this Letter, we discuss the emergence of topological floppy edge modes in two-dimensional fiber networks as a result of deformation or active driving. It is known that a network of straight fibers exhibits bulk floppy modes which only bend the fibers without stretching them. We find that, interestingly, with a perturbation in geometry, these bulk modes evolve into edge modes. We introduce a topological index for these edge modes and discuss their implications in biology.

Social relationships characterize the interactions that occur within social species and may have an important impact on collective animal motion. Here, we consider a variation of the standard Vicsek model for collective motion in which interactions are mediated by an empirically motivated scale-free topology that represents a heterogeneous pattern of social contacts. We observe that the degree of order of the model is strongly affected by network heterogeneity: more heterogeneous networks show a more resilient ordered state, while less heterogeneity leads to a more fragile ordered state that can be destroyed by sufficient external noise. Our results challenge the previously accepted equivalence between the static Vicsek model and the equilibrium $XY$ model on the network of connections, and point towards a possible equivalence with models exhibiting a different symmetry.

Microorganisms, such as bacteria and microalgae, often live in habitats consisting of a liquid phase and a plethora of interfaces. The precise ways in which these motile microbes behave in their confined environment remain unclear. Using experiments and Brownian dynamics simulations, we study the motility of a single Chlamydomonas microalga in an isolated microhabitat with controlled geometric properties. We demonstrate how the geometry of the habitat controls the cell’s navigation in confinement. The probability of finding the cell swimming near the boundary increases with the wall curvature, as seen for both circular and elliptical chambers. The theory, utilizing an asymmetric dumbbell model of the cell and steric wall interactions, captures this curvature-guided navigation quantitatively with no free parameters.

Current understanding of the critical outbreak condition on temporal networks relies on approximations (time scale separation, discretization) that may bias the results. We propose a theoretical framework to compute the epidemic threshold in continuous time through the infection propagator approach. We introduce the weak commutation condition allowing the interpretation of annealed networks, activity-driven networks, and time scale separation into one formalism. Our work provides a coherent connection between discrete and continuous time representations applicable to realistic scenarios.

Disklike molecules with aromatic cores spontaneously stack up in linear columns with high, one-dimensional charge carrier mobilities along the columnar axes, making them prominent model systems for functional, self-organized matter. We show by high-resolution optical birefringence and synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction that confining a thermotropic discotic liquid crystal in cylindrical nanopores induces a quantized formation of annular layers consisting of concentric circular bent columns, unknown in the bulk state. Starting from the walls this ring self-assembly propagates layer by layer towards the pore center in the supercooled domain of the bulk isotropic-columnar transition and thus allows one to switch on and off reversibly single, nanosized rings through small temperature variations. By establishing a Gibbs free energy phase diagram we trace the phase transition quantization to the discreteness of the layers’ excess bend deformation energies in comparison to the thermal energy, even for this near room-temperature system. Monte Carlo simulations yielding spatially resolved nematic order parameters, density maps, and bond-orientational order parameters corroborate the universality and robustness of the confinement-induced columnar ring formation as well as its quantized nature.

Filamentous polymer networks govern the mechanical properties of many biological materials. Force distributions within these networks are typically highly inhomogeneous, and, although the importance of force distributions for structural properties is well recognized, they are far from being understood quantitatively. Using a combination of probabilistic and graph-theoretical techniques, we derive force distributions in a model system consisting of ensembles of random linear spring networks on a circle. We show that characteristic quantities, such as the mean and variance of the force supported by individual springs, can be derived explicitly in terms of only two parameters: (i) average connectivity and (ii) number of nodes. Our analysis shows that a classical mean-field approach fails to capture these characteristic quantities correctly. In contrast, we demonstrate that network topology is a crucial determinant of force distributions in an elastic spring network. Our results for 1D linear spring networks readily generalize to arbitrary dimensions.

Reconstructive surgeries often use topological manipulation of tissue to minimize postoperative scarring. The most common version of this, $Z$-plasty, involves modifying a straight line cut into a $Z$ shape, followed by a rotational transposition of the resulting triangular pedicle flaps, and a final restitching of the wound. This locally reorients the anisotropic stress field and reduces the potential for scarring. We analyze the planar geometry and mechanics of the $Z$-plasty to quantify the rotation of the overall stress field and the local forces on the restitched cut using theory, simulations, and simple physical $Z$-plasty experiments with foam sheets that corroborate each other. Our study rationalizes the most typical surgical choice of this angle, and opens the way for a range of surgical decisions by characterizing the stresses along the cut.

Multilayer networks describe well many real interconnected communication and transportation systems, ranging from computer networks to multimodal mobility infrastructures. Here, we introduce a model in which the nodes have a limited capacity of storing and processing the agents moving over a multilayer network, and their congestions trigger temporary faults which, in turn, dynamically affect the routing of agents seeking for uncongested paths. The study of the network performance under different layer velocities and node maximum capacities reveals the existence of delicate trade-offs between the number of served agents and their time to travel to destination. We provide analytical estimates of the optimal buffer size at which the travel time is minimum and of its dependence on the velocity and number of links at the different layers. Phenomena reminiscent of the slower is faster effect and of the Braess’ paradox are observed in our dynamical multilayer setup.