Synchronization and collective motion of globally coupled Brownian particles

Abstract

In this work, we study a system of passive Brownian (non-self-propelled) particles in two dimensions, interacting only through a social-like force (velocity alignment in this case) that resembles Kuramoto's coupling among phase oscillators. We show that the kinematical stationary states of the system go from a phase in thermal equilibrium with no net flux of particles, to far-from-equilibrium phases exhibiting collective motion by increasing the coupling among particles. The mechanism that leads to the instability of the equilibrium phase relies on the competition between two time scales, namely, the mean collision time of the Brownian particles in a thermal bath and the time it takes for a particle to orient its direction of motion along the direction of motion of the group. Our results show a clear connection between collective motion and the Kuramoto model for synchronization, in our case, for the direction of motion of the particles.