Abstract
We introduce an active matter model composed of sterically interacting particles, which absorb resources from a substrate and move in response to resource gradients. For varied ratios of absorption rate to substrate recovery rate, we find a variety of regimes including periodic waves, partial clustering, stochastic motion, and a frozen state. If passive particles are added, they can form crystalline clusters in an active fluid. This model could be implemented using colloidal systems on feedback landscapes and can provide a soft matter realization of excitable media and ecological systems.
Highlights
Active matter exhibits self-mobility [1,2,3], which can appear in biological [4,5], social [6,7], robotic [8,9], and soft matter systems [10,11]
For active matter composed of particles, the motility can be modeled as a motor force providing run-and-tumble or driven diffusive propulsion [1,2,3], and additional dynamics can be included that induce different types of flocking behaviors [12,13]
After the wave has propagated through the system, the food is depleted again and motion does not resume until the food has been replenished
Summary
Such situations can arise in time dependent environments [7,29], particles coupled to excitable media [30], and colloids on feedback substrates [31] Active particles in these systems may perform simple steepest descent along a gradient instead of undergoing driven diffusive or run-and-tumble. Wang et al [9] introduced an ecology-inspired active matter system of robots interacting with a resource substrate where the robots consume the resources and are attracted to regions with the highest resource concentration This system exhibited numerous regimes such as crystalline, liquid, glass, and jammed states. When we add a second species of passive particles that do not couple to the substrate but only interact sterically with the active particles, we find a
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