No Arabic abstract
The effect of quenched (frozen) disorder on the collective motion of active particles is analyzed. We find that active polar systems are far more robust against quenched disorder than equilibrium ferromagnets. Long ranged order (a non-zero average velocity $langle{bf v}rangle$) persists in the presence of quenched disorder even in spatial dimensions $d=3$; in $d=2$, quasi-long-ranged order (i.e., spatial velocity correlations that decay as a power law with distance) occurs. In equilibrium systems, only quasi-long-ranged order in $d=3$ and short ranged order in $d=2$ are possible. Our theoretical predictions for two dimensions are borne out by simulations.
The effect of quenched (frozen) orientational disorder on the collective motion of active particles is analyzed. We find that, as with annealed disorder (Langevin noise), active polar systems are far more robust against quenched disorder than their equilibrium counterparts. In particular, long ranged order (i.e., the existence of a non-zero average velocity $langle {bf v} rangle$) persists in the presence of quenched disorder even in spatial dimensions $d=3$, while it is destroyed even by arbitrarily weak disorder in $d le 4$ in equilibrium systems. Furthermore, in $d=2$, quasi-long-ranged order (i.e., spatial velocity correlations that decay as a power law with distance) occurs when quenched disorder is present, in contrast to the short-ranged order that is all that can survive in equilibrium. These predictions are borne out by simulations in both two and three dimensions.
We study a $2d$ Hamiltonian fluid made of particles carrying spins coupled to their velocities. At low temperatures and intermediate densities, this conservative system exhibits phase coexistence between a collectively moving droplet and a still gas. The particle displacements within the droplet have remarkably similar correlations to those of birds flocks. The center of mass behaves as an effective self-propelled particle, driven by the droplets total magnetization. The conservation of a generalized angular momentum leads to rigid rotations, opposite to the fluctuations of the magnetization orientation that, however small, are responsible for the shape and scaling of the correlations.
We study a model of flocking for a very large system (N=320,000) numerically. We find that in the long wavelength, long time limit, the fluctuations of the velocity and density fields are carried by propagating sound modes, whose dispersion and damping agree quantitatively with the predictions of our previous work using a continuum equation. We find that the sound velocity is anisotropic and characterized by its speed $c$ for propagation perpendicular to the mean velocity $<vec{v}>$, $<vec{v}>$ itself, and a third velocity $lambda <vec{v}>$, arising explicitly from the lack of Galilean invariance in flocks.
In their comment on our work (ArXiv:1912.07056v1), Cavagna textit{et al.} raise several interesting points on the phenomenology of flocks of birds, and conduct additional data analysis to back up their points. In particular, they question the existence of rigid body rotations in flocks of birds. In this reply, we first clarify the notions of rigid body rotations, and of rigidity itself. Then, we justify why we believe that it is legitimate to wonder about their importance when studying the spatial correlations between speeds in flocks of birds.
We consider the isotropic-to-nematic transition in liquid crystals confined to aerogel hosts, and assume that the aerogel acts as a random field. We generally find that self-averaging is violated. For a bulk transition that is weakly first-order, the violation of self-averaging is so severe, even the correlation length becomes non-self-averaging: no phase transition remains in this case. For a bulk transition that is more strongly first-order, the violation of self-averaging is milder, and a phase transition is observed.