Active matter

Car traffic, fish schools, vibrated grains and bacterial swarms are examples of active matter, a term which designates systems composed of many “particles” that move actively (usually by converting energy). The dynamics of these systems is more diverse than that of equilibrium systems. As an example we described how spontaneous, persistent and long-range flow appears in one such system near the junction between a hard and a soft wall, affecting any attempt to measure surface tensions in such setups. The broad goal in the very active research field that has spawned, is to generalise the tools of equilibrium statistical physics so that we can derive the overall dynamics from the particle-level interactions.

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Last modified: 16 Apr 2021