2023/01/29 by Hongbo Zhao, Zhao, Hongbo, Andrej Košmrlj +3 · 6 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Active matter #Biological system #Biology #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Chemotaxis #Classical mechanics #Collective motion #Competition (biology) #Computer science #Diffusion and Search Dynamics #Ecology #Machine learning #Micro and Nano Robotics #Motility #Phase (matter) #Physics #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Quantum mechanics #Separation (statistics) #Statistical physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2301.12345
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2023/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Collectives of actively-moving particles can spontaneously separate into dilute and dense phases -- a fascinating phenomenon known as motility-induced phase separation (MIPS). MIPS is well-studied for randomly-moving particles with no directional bias. However, many forms of active matter exhibit collective chemotaxis, directed motion along a chemical gradient that the constituent particles can generate themselves. Here, using theory and simulations, we demonstrate that collective chemotaxis strongly competes with MIPS -- in some cases, arresting or completely suppressing phase separation, or in other cases, generating fundamentally new dynamic instabilities. We establish quantitative principles describing this competition, thereby helping to reveal and clarify the rich physics underlying active matter systems that perform chemotaxis, ranging from cells to robots.