Active nonreciprocal attraction between motile particles in an elastic medium

Abstract

We show from experiments and simulations on vibration-activated granular matter that self-propelled polar rods in an elastic medium on a substrate turn and move towards each other. We account for this effective attraction through a coarse-grained theory of a motile particle as a moving point-force density that creates elastic strains in the medium that reorient other particles. Our measurements confirm qualitatively the predicted features of the distortions created by the rods, including the $|x{|}^{-1/2}$ tail of the trailing displacement field and non-reciprocal sensing and pursuit. A discrepancy between the magnitudes of displacements along and transverse to the direction of motion remains. Our theory should be of relevance to the interaction of motile cells in the extracellular matrix or in a supported layer of gel or tissue.

Revised the draft structure with supplementary included in the main draft, added some new analysis, some figures and bibliography modified, See Supplementary movies here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/od5lg00cxijk7b9/AAB3j6el7jFdaZ0q1xOo0Eqza?dl=0

References in corpus (12)

• Physics of Microswimmers - Single Particle Motion and Collective Behavior
• Non-reciprocal phase transitions
• When are active Brownian particles and run-and-tumble particles equivalent? Consequences for motility-induced phase separation
• Nonreciprocity as a generic route to traveling states
• Scalar Active Mixtures: The Non-Reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard Model
• Propagating stress waves during epithelial expansion
• Elastic interactions of active cells with soft materials
• Symmetry properties of the large-deviation function of the velocity of a self-propelled polar particle
• Lamellar to micellar phases and beyond: when tactic active systems admit free-energy functionals
• Anisotropic Isometric Fluctuation Relations in experiment and theory on a self-propelled rod
• Fore-aft asymmetric flocking
• Polarity patterns of stress fibers

Cited by in corpus (22)

• Topological active matter
• Realization of active metamaterials with odd micropolar elasticity
• Non-reciprocity across scales in active mixtures
• Clustering and flocking of repulsive chiral active particles with non-reciprocal couplings
• Dynamical pattern formation without self-attraction in quorum-sensing active matter: the interplay between nonreciprocity and motility
• Role of rotational inertia for collective phenomena in active matter
• Non-reciprocal alignment induces asymmetric clustering in active mixtures
• Defect Solutions of the Non-reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard Model: Spirals and Targets
• Exact moments and re-entrant transitions in the inertial dynamics of active Brownian particles
• Phase Coexistence in Nonreciprocal Quorum-Sensing Active Matter
• Robustness of travelling states in generic non-reciprocal mixtures
• Dynamical structures in phase-separating non-reciprocal polar active mixtures
• Force renormalization for probes immersed in an active bath
• Bulk condensation by an active interface
• Phases and correlations in active nematic granular systems
• Simple mathematical model for a pairing-induced motion of active and passive particles
• Solving the Kinetic Ising Model with Non-Reciprocity
• Inertia-chirality interplay in active Brownian motion: exact dynamics and phase maps
• Active nematics in corrugated channels
• Nonreciprocal Blume-Capel Model with Antisymmetric Single-Ion Anisotropies
• Edge states, pairing, and sorting of motile chiral particles
• Active elastocapillarity in soft solids with negative surface tension