No Arabic abstract
We study incompressible systems of motile particles with alignment interactions. Unlike their compressible counterparts, in which the order-disorder (i.e., moving to static) transition, tuned by either noise or number density, is discontinuous, in incompressible systems this transition can be continuous, and belongs to a new universality class. We calculate the critical exponents to $O(epsilon)$in an $epsilon=4-d$ expansion, and derive two exact scaling relations. This is the first analytic treatment of a phase transition in a new universality class in an active system.
Many systems, including biological tissues and foams, are made of highly packed units having high deformability but low compressibility. At two dimensions, these systems offer natural tesselations of plane with fixed density, in which transitions from ordered to disordered patterns are often observed, in both directions. Using a modified Cellular Potts Model algorithm that allows rapid thermalization of extensive systems, we numerically explore the order-disorder transition of monodisperse, two-dimensional cellular systems driven by thermal agitation. We show that the transition follows most of the predictions of Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory developed for melting of 2D solids, extending the validity of this theory to systems with many-body interactions. In particular, we show the existence of an intermediate hexatic phase, which preserves the orientational order of the regular hexagonal tiling, but looses its positional order. In addition to shedding light on the structural changes observed in experimental systems, our study shows that soft cellular systems offer macroscopic systems in which KTHNY melting scenario can be explored, in the continuation of Braggs experiments on bubble rafts.
We analyze the jamming transition that occurs as a function of increasing packing density in a disordered two-dimensional assembly of disks at zero temperature for ``Point J of the recently proposed jamming phase diagram. We measure the total number of moving disks and the transverse length of the moving region, and find a power law divergence as the packing density increases toward a critical jamming density. This provides evidence that the T = 0 jamming transition as a function of packing density is a {it second order} phase transition. Additionally we find evidence for multiscaling, indicating the importance of long tails in the velocity fluctuations.
We report on thermodynamic and optical measurements of the condensation process of $^4$He in three silica aerogels of different microstructures. For the two base-catalysed aerogels, the temperature dependence of the shape of adsorption isotherms and of the morphology of the condensation process show evidence of a disorder driven transition, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. This transition is not observed for a neutral-catalysed aerogel, which we interpret as due to a larger disorder in this case.
We study universal behavior in the moving phase of a generic system of motile particles with alignment interactions in the incompressible limit for spatial dimensions $d>2$. Using a dynamical renormalization group analysis, we obtain the exact dynamic, roughness, and anisotropy exponents that describe the scaling behavior of such incompressible systems. This is the first time a compelling argument has been given for the exact values of the anomalous scaling exponents of a flock moving through an isotropic medium in $d>2$.
We report the selective stabilization of chiral rotational direction of bacterial vortices, from turbulent bacterial suspension, in achiral circular microwells sealed by an oil-water interface. This broken-symmetry, originating from the intrinsic chirality of bacterial swimming near hydrodynamically different top and bottom surfaces, generates a chiral edge current of bacteria at lateral boundary and grows stronger as bacterial density increases. We demonstrate that chiral edge current favors co-rotational configurations of interacting vortices, enhancing their ordering. The interplay between the intrinsic chirality of bacteria and the geometric properties of the boundary is a key-feature for the pairing order transition of active turbulence.