Abstract
Abstract Flocking and vortical are two typical motion modes in active matter. Although it is known that the two modes can spontaneously switch between each other in a finite-size system, the switching dynamics remain elusive. In this work, by computer simulation of a two-dimensional Vicsek-like system with 1000 particles, we find from the perspective of classical nucleation theory that the forward and backward switching dynamics are asymmetric: from flocking to vortical is a one-step nucleation process, while the opposite is a two-step nucleation process with the system staying in a metastable state before reaching the final flocking state.
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