Self-propulsion of active droplets without liquid-crystalline order

Singh, Rajesh; Tjhung, Elsen; Cates, Michael E.

doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.2.032024

Self-propulsion of active droplets without liquid-crystalline order

Singh, Rajesh; Tjhung, Elsen; Cates, Michael E.

Authors

Rajesh Singh

Elsen Tjhung

Michael E. Cates

Abstract

The swimming of cells, far from any boundary, can arise in the absence of long-range liquid-crystalline order within the cytoplasm, but simple models of this effect are lacking. Here, we present a two-dimensional model of droplet self-propulsion involving two scalar fields, representing the cytoplasm and a contractile cortex. An active stress results from coupling between these fields; self-propulsion results when rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken. The swimming speed is predicted, and shown numerically, to vary linearly with the activity parameter and with the droplet area fraction. The model exhibits a Crowley-like instability for an array of active droplets.

Citation

Singh, R., Tjhung, E., & Cates, M. E. (2020). Self-propulsion of active droplets without liquid-crystalline order. Physical Review Research, 2(3), Article 032024(R). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.032024

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 13, 2020
Online Publication Date	Aug 23, 2020
Publication Date	2020
Deposit Date	Sep 14, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Sep 14, 2021
Journal	Physical Review Research
Electronic ISSN	2643-1564
Publisher	American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	2
Issue	3
Article Number	032024(R)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.032024

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