Emergent collective dynamics in large collections of active particles
speaker: Timon Idema (Delft University)abstract: Inspired by the patterns emerging during collective migration and tissue development in biological systems, we study the dynamics of large collections of active particles. These particles interact mechanically with their direct neighbours, but our models have no built-in long-range interactions. The activity of the particles can be due to self-propulsion and or growth and division. A collection of such particles is in a far from equilibrium state, which often breaks virtually all symmetries, and hence all conservation laws of equilibrium statistical physics. We study the effect of the mechanical interactions between the active particles on their large-scale collective dynamics, resulting in motile-to-jamming transitions, order-to-disorder transitions, geometric pattern formation, and the emergence of topological defects. All of these phenomena are also found in nature, and we can match our simulation results to experimental data. Therefore, our simple mechanical models can capture a range of effects, and can be used to both study developmental processes and eventually design cellular patterns.
timetable:
Wed 3 Apr, 11:30 - 12:30, Aula Dini
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