2020/06/15 by Lukas Ophaus, Johannes Kirchner, Svetlana V. Gurevich +1
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Collision #Continuation #Focus (optics) #Homogeneous #Inelastic collision #Micro and Nano Robotics #Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence #Phase (matter) #Phase diagram #Plane (geometry) #Solidification and crystal growth phenomena #nlin.PS
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/5.0019426
published as Chaos 30, 123149 (2020)
arxiv created 2020/06/15 · openalex created_date 2020/06/19 · openalex publication_date 2020/12/01 · arxiv updated 2021/02/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The active Phase-Field-Crystal (aPFC) model combines elements of the Toner-Tu theory for self-propelled particles and the classical Phase-Field-Crystal (PFC) model that describes the transition between liquid and crystalline phases. In the liquid-crystal coexistence region of the PFC model, crystalline clusters exist in the form of localized states that coexist with a homogeneous background. At sufficiently strong activity (related to self-propulsion strength), they start to travel. We employ numerical path continuation and direct time simulations to first investigate the existence regions of different types of localized states in one spatial dimension. The results are summarized in morphological phase diagrams in the parameter plane spanned by activity and mean density. Then we focus on the interaction of traveling localized states, studying their collision behavior. As a result, we distinguish "elastic" and "inelastic" collisions. In the former, localized states recover their properties after a collision, while in the latter, they may completely or partially annihilate, forming resting bound states or various traveling states.