Effective Cahn-Hilliard Equation for the Phase Separation of Active Brownian Particles

By Thomas Speck, Julian Bialk'e, Andreas Menzel, Hartmut Lowen. 2013

222 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The kinetic separation of repulsive active Brownian particles into a dense and a dilute phase is analyzed using a systematic coarse-graining strategy. We derive an effective Cahn-Hilliard equation on large length and time scales, which implies that the separation process can be mapped onto that of passive particles. A lower density threshold for clustering is found, and using our approach we demonstrate that clustering first proceeds via a hysteretic nucleation scenario and above a higher threshold changes into a spinodal-like instability. Our results are in agreement with particle-resolved computer simulations and can be verified in experiments of artificial or biological microswimmers.

Subfields: Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/173ee00228f95478d0fb0ab1408c9e3577a88b11

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In Condensed Matter Physics

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Citations in the corpus

Physics of microswimmers—single particle motion and collective behavior: a review (2014, background): “Speck et al. (2014) derived an effective Cahn-Hilliard equation for repulsive active Brownian particles on large length and time scales, which underlines the similarities in the phase behavior between passive and active systems.”
Tuned, driven, and active soft matter (2015, background): “of the clustering transition was confirmed by numerical investigations [465].”
Irreversibility in Active Matter Systems: Fluctuation Theorem and Mutual Information (2018, background): “[26] Thomas Speck, Julian Bialké, Andreas M Menzel, and Hartmut Löwen, “Effective cahn-hilliard equation for the phase separation of active brownian particles,” Physical Review Letters 112, 218304 (2014).”
Active Particles in Complex and Crowded Environments (2016, background): “For large length scales, clustering of active Brownian spheres can be mapped onto phase separation of a passive system with attractive interactions (Cates and Tailleur, 2015; Speck et al., 2014).”
Entropy production in field theories without time reversal symmetry: Quantifying the non-equilibrium character of active matter (2016, background): “[15] Thomas Speck, Julian Bialké, Andreas M Menzel, and Hartmut Löwen, “Effective cahn-hilliard equation for the phase separation of active brownian particles,” Physical Review Letters 112, 218304 (2014).”