2024/04/16 by Rodrigo Saavedra, Saavedra, Rodrigo, Fernando Peruani +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.10932
openalex publication_date 2024/04/16 · openalex created_date 2024/04/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study systems of active particles, whose perception is constrained by a vision cone, that are attracted to other particles and repelled from static obstacles. We report a novel self-trapping mechanism: active particles with non-reciprocal attraction form particle chains, which eventually become closed loops that shrink around one or many obstacles. These closed loops act as effective aggregation centers. Long-lived, self-organized closed loops require to enclose obstacles to exist. Furthermore, we find that closed loops that initially exhibit local polar order, transition to a nematic state as they absorb more particles. The unveiled mechanism corresponds to a pinning behavior that strongly hinders particle diffusion. In short, closed loops dominate the large-scale properties of active systems with non-reciprocal attraction in disordered media.