Correlation lengths in hydrodynamic models of active nematics

Abstract

We examine the scaling with activity of the emergent length scales that control the nonequilibrium dynamics of an active nematic liquid crystal, using two popular hydrodynamic models that have been employed in previous studies. In both models we find that the chaotic spatio-temporal dynamics in the regime of fully developed active turbulence is controlled by a single active scale determined by the balance of active and elastic stresses, regardless of whether the active stress is extensile or contractile in nature. The observed scaling of the kinetic energy and enstropy with activity is consistent with our single-length scale argument and simple dimensional analysis. Our results provide a unified understanding of apparent discrepancies in the previous literature and demonstrate that the essential physics is robust to the choice of model.

10 pages, 5 figures v2 updated to post-referee version (published in Soft Matter)

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Cited by in corpus (52)

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• Universal scaling of active nematic turbulence
• Machine learning active-nematic hydrodynamics
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• Statistical Properties of Autonomous Flows in 2D Active Nematics
• Derivation of a hydrodynamic theory for mesoscale dynamics in microswimmer suspensions
• Submersed Micropatterned Structures Control Active Nematic Flow, Topology and Concentration
• Probing the shear viscosity of an active nematic
• Dynamical patterns in active nematics on a sphere
• Hydrodynamics of Active Defects: from order to chaos to defect ordering
• Understanding dense active nematics from microscopic models
• Twist-induced crossover from 2D to 3D turbulence in active nematics
• The low noise phase of a 2d active nematic
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• Active nematic defects and epithelial morphogenesis
• Data-driven discovery of active nematic hydrodynamics
• Role of friction in multidefect ordering
• Glassy swirls of active dumbbells
• Pair creation, motion, and annihilation of topological defects in 2D nematics
• The role of fluid flow in the dynamics of active nematic defects
• Mesoscopic Simulations of Active-Nematics
• Spectral energy analysis of bulk three-dimensional active nematic turbulence
• Defect Spirograph: Dynamical Behavior of Defects in Spatially Patterned Active Nematics
• Active extensile stress promotes 3D director orientations and flows
• Propagation of active nematic-isotropic interfaces on substrates
• Active Matter Invasion
• Fluctuations can induce local nematic order and extensile stress in monolayers of motile cells
• Dispersion of activity at an active-passive nematic interface
• Helical Flow States in Active Nematics
• Activity driven orientational order in active nematic liquid crystals on an anisotropic substrate
• The role of advective inertia in active nematic turbulence
• Dynamical Sub-classes of Dry Active Nematics
• Motor crosslinking augments elasticity in active nematics
• Chirality, anisotropic viscosity and elastic anisotropy in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence
• Coexistence of defect morphologies in three dimensional active nematics
• Coupling Turing stripes to active flows
• Multi-defect Dynamics in Active Nematics
• Fractal generation in a two-dimensional active-nematic fluid
• Boundaries control active channel flows
• Active nematic gel with quenched disorder
• Analytical model for the motion and interaction of two-dimensional active nematic defects
• Anti-hyperuniform Critical States of Active Topological Defects
• Solute dispersion in pre-turbulent confined active nematics
• Machine Learning Forecasting of Active Nematics
• Dynamical arrest in active nematic turbulence
• Defect binding-unbinding transition in active nematic membranes
• Filamentous Active Matter: Band Formation, Bending, Buckling, and Defects