Issue |
EPL
Volume 85, Number 1, January 2009
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 18008 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/85/18008 | |
Published online | 13 January 2009 |
Spontaneous flow states in active nematics: A unified picture
The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics - 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK, EU
Corresponding author: s.edwards1@physics.ox.ac.uk
Received:
21
October
2008
Accepted:
1
December
2008
Continuum hydrodynamic models of active liquid crystals have been used to describe dynamic self-organising systems such as bacterial swarms and cytoskeletal gels. A key prediction of such models is the existence of self-stabilising kink states that spontaneously generate fluid flow in quasi-one dimensional channels (Voituriez R. et al Europhys. Lett., 70 (2005) 404). Using simple stability arguments and numerical calculations we extend previous studies to give a complete characterisation of the phase space for both contractile and extensile particles (i.e. pullers and pushers) moving in a narrow channel as a function of their flow alignment properties and initial orientation. This gives a framework for unifying many of the results in the literature. We describe the response of the kink states to an imposed shear, and investigate how allowing the system to be polar modifies its dynamical behaviour.
PACS: 87.10.-e – Biological and medical physics: General theory and mathematical aspects / 83.80.Xz – Liquid crystals: nematic, cholesteric, smectic, discotic, etc. / 47.60.-i – Flow phenomena in quasi-one-dimensional systems
© EPLA, 2009
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.