Diffusion transients in motility-induced phase separation
We numerically investigate normal diffusion in a two-dimensional athermal suspension of active particles undergoing motility-induced phase separation. The particles are modeled as achiral Janus disks with fixed self-propulsion speed and weakly fluctuating orientation. When plotted versus the overall suspension packing fraction, the relevant diffusion constant traces a hysteresis loop with sharp jumps in correspondence with the binodal and spinodal of the gaseous phase. No hysteresis loop is observed between the spinodal and binodal of the dense phase, as they appear to overlap. Moreover, even under steady-state phase separation, the particle displacement distributions exhibit non-Gaussian normal diffusion with transient fat (thin) tails in the presence (absence) of phase separation.
Authors
- Shubhadip Nayak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7824-5329)
- Yuxin Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4433-5952)
- Franco Nori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3682-7432)
- Yunyun Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9558-6021)
- Poulami Bag (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2091-9603)
- Fabio Marchesoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9240-6793)
- Qingqing Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7585-8173)
- Pulak K. Ghosh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2888-2186)
Institutions
- Università di Camerino (IT)
- Tongji University (CN)
- Presidency University (IN)
- University of Michigan (US)
- RIKEN (JP)
- Quantum Chemistry Research Institute (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Research
- Published
- 2025-02-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.7.013153
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Micro and Nano Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.58
Funders
- University Grants Commission
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Engineering Research Board
- Japan Science and Technology Agency
- RIKEN
- Office of Naval Research