2017/03/16 by Rituparno Mandal, Pranab Jyoti Bhuyan, Pinaki Chaudhuri +2
Computer Science · Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Active matter #Binary number #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Dynamical heterogeneity #Dynamics (music) #Fragility #Glass transition #Length scale #Mathematics #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Molecule #Non-equilibrium thermodynamics #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Physics #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Polymer #Propulsion #Relaxation (psychology) #Rotational dynamics #Scale (ratio) #Thermal #Thermal fluctuations #Thermodynamics #Vortex #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.96.042605
published as Phys. Rev. E 96, 042605 (2017) · 13 pages, 11 figures
arxiv created 2017/03/16 · openalex publication_date 2017/10/13 · arxiv updated 2017/10/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Is an active glass different from a conventional passive glass? To address this, we study the dynamics of a dense binary mixture of soft dumbbells, each subject to an active propulsion force and thermal fluctuations. This dense assembly shows dynamical arrest, first to a translational and then to a rotational glass, as one reduces temperature T or the self-propulsion force f. We monitor the dynamics along an iso-relaxation-time contour in the (T-f) plane. We find dramatic differences both in the fragility and in the nature of dynamical heterogeneity, which characterize the onset of glass formation-the activity-induced glass exhibits large swirls or vortices, whose scale is set by activity, and it appears to diverge as one approaches the glass transition. This large collective swirling movement should have implications for collective cell migration in epithelial layers. We construct continuum hydrodynamic equations for the simulated system, and we show that the observed behavior of this growing dynamic length scale can be understood from these equations.