Many active systems display nematic order, while interacting with their environment. In this Letter, we show theoretically how environment-stored memory acts an effective external field that aligns active nematics. The coupling to the environment leads to substantial modifications of the known phase diagram and dynamics of active nematics, including nematic order at arbitrarily low densities and arrested domain coarsening. We are motivated mainly by cells that remodel fibers in their extra-cellular matrix (ECM), while being directed by the fibers during migration. Our predictions indicate that remodeling promotes cellular and ECM alignment, and possibly limits the range of ordered ECM domains, in accordance with recent experiments.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.118402 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Aggregation-Induced Emission Carbon Dot-Based Multicolor Circularly Polarized Afterglow with a High Luminescence Dissymmetry Factor.
J Phys Chem Lett
December 2024
Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry of Ministry of Education and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
Carbon dots (CDs) with circularly polarized afterglow (CPA) materials have drawn increasing attention as cutting-edge research in the field of chiral luminescence owing to their promising applications in various fields. However, due to the weak optical activity of chiral CDs and the limited afterglow color of phosphorescent CDs, it is still a formidable challenge to construct multicolor CD-based CPA materials with a high luminescence dissymmetry factor (). Herein, positively charged aggregation-induced emission (AIE) CDs were prepared using dithiosalicylic acid and ionic liquid as precursors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMajorana quasiparticles and topological phases in 3D active nematics.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
December 2024
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
Quasiparticles are low-energy excitations with important roles in condensed matter physics. An intriguing example is provided by Majorana quasiparticles, which are equivalent to their antiparticles. Despite being implicated in neutrino oscillations and topological superconductivity, their experimental realizations remain very rare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehavior of chemically powered Janus colloids in lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal.
Phys Rev E
November 2024
Department of Physics, University of California Merced, Merced, California 95343, USA.
Platinum-coated Janus colloids exhibit self-propelled motion in aqueous solution via the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Here, we report their motion in a uniformly aligned nematic phase of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal, disodium cromoglycate (DSCG). When active Janus colloids are placed in DSCG, we find that the anisotropy of the liquid crystal imposes a strong sense of direction to their motion; the Janus colloids tend to move parallel to the nematic director.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMechanochemical topological defects in an active nematic.
Phys Rev E
November 2024
Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA.
We propose a reaction-diffusion system that converts topological information of an active nematic into chemical signals. We show that a curvature-activated reaction dipole is sufficient for creating a system that dynamically senses topology by producing a concentration field possessing local extrema coinciding with ±1/2 defects. The enabling term is analogous to polarization charge density seen in dielectric materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThermo-responsive circularly polarized luminescence from carbon quantum dots in a cellulose-based chiral nematic template.
Nanophotonics
August 2024
School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, China.
Circularly polarized light emitting active materials are of great interest, and the convenient tuning of the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) remains a significant challenge. Integrating fluorescent materials into chiral photonic crystals to achieve tunable CPL is a promising approach, allowing efficient manipulation of CPL by adjusting the photonic band gap (PBG). We combined carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), which self-assembles into a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!