2016/04/04 by Tatjana Sentjabrskaja, Emanuela Zaccarelli, Cristiano De Michele +6 · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Asymmetry #Biological system #Biology #Chemical physics #Dynamics (music) #Ecosystem dynamics and resilience #Material Dynamics and Properties #Materials science #Matrix (chemical analysis) #Nanotechnology #Physics #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Range (aeronautics) #SPHERES #Statistical physics #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms11133
published as Nature Communications 7, 11133 (2016) · 13 pages, 7 figures
openalex publication_date 2016/04/04 · arxiv created 2016/04/08 · arxiv updated 2016/04/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Many natural and industrial processes rely on constrained transport, such as proteins moving through cells, particles confined in nanocomposite materials or gels, individuals in highly dense collectives and vehicular traffic conditions. These are examples of motion through crowded environments, in which the host matrix may retain some glass-like dynamics. Here we investigate constrained transport in a colloidal model system, in which dilute small spheres move in a slowly rearranging, glassy matrix of large spheres. Using confocal differential dynamic microscopy and simulations, here we discover a critical size asymmetry, at which anomalous collective transport of the small particles appears, manifested as a logarithmic decay of the density autocorrelation functions. We demonstrate that the matrix mobility is central for the observed anomalous behaviour. These results, crucially depending on size-induced dynamic asymmetry, are of relevance for a wide range of phenomena ranging from glassy systems to cell biology.