Data-driven quantitative modeling of bacterial active nematics

Abstract

Active matter comprises individual units that convert energy into mechanical motion. In many examples, such as bacterial systems and biofilament assays, constituent units are elongated and can give rise to local nematic orientational order. Such `active nematics' systems have attracted much attention from both theorists and experimentalists. However, despite intense research efforts, data-driven quantitative modeling has not been achieved, a situation mainly due to the lack of systematic experimental data and to the large number of parameters of current models. Here we introduce a new active nematics system made of swarming filamentous bacteria. We simultaneously measure orientation and velocity fields and show that the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of our system can be quantitatively reproduced by a new type of microscopic model for active suspensions whose important parameters are all estimated from comprehensive experimental data. This provides unprecedented access to key effective parameters and mechanisms governing active nematics. Our approach is applicable to different types of dense suspensions and shows a path towards more quantitative active matter research.

9 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• The physics of active polymers and filaments
• Controlling cell motion and microscale flow with polarized light fields
• Defect Spirograph: Dynamical Behavior of Defects in Spatially Patterned Active Nematics
• Simulation of microswimmer hydrodynamics with multiparticle collision dynamics
• Phase transitions on a class of generalized Vicsek-like models of collective motion
• Fractal generation in a two-dimensional active-nematic fluid
• A phase diagram for bacterial swarming