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Compositional disorder in a multicomponent nonreciprocal mixture: Stability and patterns

Laya Parkavousi* and Suropriya Saha†

  • *Contact author: laya.parkavousi@ds.mpg.de
  • †Contact author: suropriya.saha@ds.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023223 – Published 28 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n754-npwy

Abstract

In passive phase-separating mixtures, the average density of each component can be tuned to control the composition of the coexisting bulk phases. This concept extends to active systems. For example, in a nonreciprocal mixture of two species, changing the average density of either species alters the qualitative nature of the traveling patterns that emerge in the steady state. In this paper, we build on the existing framework of the multispecies nonreciprocal Cahn-Hilliard model to examine the influence of compositional disorder in a multicomponent active system. Specifically, we allow each scalar field in the mixture to have a distinct average density and analyze the implications of this generalized setting. Focusing on ensembles of systems in which the interspecies interaction coefficients and the average densities of each species are both sampled from probability distributions, we show that nonreciprocity stabilizes the uniformly mixed state, even in the presence of compositional disorder, when compared to the corresponding reciprocal system. Using random matrix theory, a general condition for the onset of the spinodal instability is derived and verified through simulations. Finally, the connection between the statistics of the most unstable eigenvalue and the emergent nonlinear dynamics is illustrated.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023223– Published 28 May, 2026
  • Received 2 June 2025
  • Accepted 7 April 2026
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