System size and boundaries determine the patterning dynamics of attracting active particles

2025/09/10 by Jan Rombouts, Michael L Zhao, Rombouts, Jan +5 · 2 voices
Physics and Astronomy · Computer Science · #Micro and Nano Robotics #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.08533

Abstract

Pattern formation often occurs in confined systems, yet how boundaries shape patterning dynamics is unclear. We develop techniques to analyze confinement effects in nonlocal advection-diffusion equations, which generically capture the collective dynamics of active self-attracting particles. We identify a sequence of size-controlled transitions that generate characteristic slow modes, leading to exponential increase of patterning timescales. Experimental measurements of multicellular dynamics confirm our predictions.

Citations

• Dispersal strategies and spatial organization of vegetation in arid ecosystems

Discussions

• Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems. You can f [bsky, 28 points, 2 comments]
• Jan Rombouts, Michael L Zhao, Alexander Aulehla, Anna Erzberger: System size and boundaries determine the patterning dynamics of attracting active particles https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533 https://ar [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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