Capillary interfacial tension in active phase separation

Abstract

In passive fluid-fluid phase separation, a single interfacial tension sets both the capillary fluctuations of the interface and the rate of Ostwald ripening. We show that these phenomena are governed by two different tensions in active systems, and compute the capillary tension ${\sigma }_{cw}$ which sets the relaxation rate of interfacial fluctuations in accordance with capillary wave theory. We discover that strong enough activity can cause negative ${\sigma }_{cw}$. In this regime, depending on the global composition, the system self-organizes, either into a microphase-separated state in which coalescence is highly inhibited, or into an `active foam' state. Our results are obtained for Active Model B+, a minimal continuum model which, although generic, admits significant analytical progress.

arXiv commentas accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (40)

• Motility-Induced Phase Separation
• Dynamical clustering and phase separation in suspensions of self-propelled colloidal particles
• Athermal Phase Separation of Self-Propelled Particles with no Alignment
• Statistical Mechanics of Interacting Run-and-Tumble Bacteria
• Dynamic clustering in active colloidal suspensions with chemical signaling
• How far from equilibrium is active matter?
• Phase behaviour of active Brownian particles: The role of dimensionality
• Scalar ${\varphi }^4$ field theory for active-particle phase separation
• Active matter
• Clusters, asters and collective oscillations in chemotactic colloids
• Effective Interactions in Active Brownian Suspensions
• Effective Cahn-Hilliard equation for the phase separation of active Brownian particles
• Multidimensional Stationary Probability Distribution for Interacting Active Particles
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking in active droplets provides a generic route to motility
• Negative interfacial tension in phase-separated active suspensions
• Generalized Thermodynamics of Phase Equilibria in Scalar Active Matter
• Entropy production in field theories without time reversal symmetry: Quantifying the non-equilibrium character of active matter
• Cluster phases and bubbly phase separation in active fluids: Reversal of the Ostwald process
• Generalized thermodynamics of Motility-Induced Phase Separation: Phase equilibria, Laplace pressure, and change of ensembles
• Theories of Binary Fluid Mixtures: From Phase-Separation Kinetics to Active Emulsions
• Motility-Induced Microphase and Macrophase Separation in a Two-Dimensional Active Brownian Particle System
• Clustering and pattern formation in chemorepulsive active colloids
• Hydrodynamic suppression of phase separation in active suspensions
• Flow-induced phase separation of active particles is controlled by boundary conditions
• Competition between collective and individual dynamics
• Active Model H: Scalar Active Matter in a Momentum-Conserving Fluid
• Self-Organized Critical Coexistence Phase in Repulsive Active Particles
• A theory for the dynamics of dense systems of athermal self-propelled particles
• Soft yet sharp interfaces in a vertex model of confluent tissue
• Microscopic Origins of the Swim Pressure and the Anomalous Surface Tension of Active Matter
• Curvature-dependent tension and tangential flows at the interface of motility-induced phases
• Non-negative Interfacial Tension in Phase-Separated Active Brownian Particles
• Stealth entropy production in active field theories near Ising critical points
• Hydrodynamically interrupted droplet growth in scalar active matter
• Interface stability, interface fluctuations, and the Gibbs-Thomson relation in motility-induced phase separations
• Interface Fluctuations, Burgers Equations, and Coarsening under Shear
• Collective dynamics of active Brownian particles in three spatial dimensions: a predictive field theory
• Surface Tensions between Active Fluids and Solid Interfaces: bare vs dressed
• Strong coupling in conserved surface roughening: A new universality class?
• Periodic patterns displace active phase separation

Cited by in corpus (35)

• Flocking without alignment interactions in attractive active Brownian particles
• Nonreciprocal pattern formation of conserved fields
• Classical Nucleation Theory for Active Fluid Phase Separation
• Active phase separation: new phenomenology from non-equilibrium physics
• Dynamics of active particles with translational and rotational inertia
• Activity-suppressed phase separation
• Stochastic Hydrodynamics of Complex Fluids: Discretisation and Entropy Production
• Intermittent Attractive Interactions Lead to Microphase Separation in Non-motile Active Matter
• Inclusions, Boundaries and Disorder in Scalar Active Matter
• Fingering Instability of Active Nematic Droplets
• Interface roughening in nonequilibrium phase-separated systems
• Theory of Capillary Tension and Interfacial Dynamics of Motility-Induced Phases
• Hyperuniformity in phase ordering: the roles of activity, noise, and non-constant mobility
• Asymmetric fluctuations and self-folding of active interfaces
• Active nematics on flat surfaces: from droplet motility and scission to active wetting
• Statistical properties of microphase and bubbly phase-separated active fluids
• Universal limiting behaviour of reaction-diffusion systems with conservation laws
• The Mechanics of Nucleation and Growth and the Surface Tensions of Active Matter
• Effects of the self-propulsion parity on the efficiency of a fuel-consuming active heat engine
• Interface dynamics of wet active systems
• Phase Separation, Capillarity, and Odd Surface Flows in Chiral Active Matter
• Interfacial and density fluctuations in a lattice model of motility-induced phase separation
• Roughening of two-dimensional interfaces in nonequilibrium phase-separated systems
• Wetting by active fluids
• Supramolecular assemblies in active motor-filament systems: micelles, bilayers, and foams
• Scale-dependent sharpening of interfacial fluctuations in shape-based models of dense cellular sheets
• Statistics and morphologies of stable droplets in scalar active fluids
• An Infinite Set of Integral Formulae for Polar, Nematic, and Higher Order Structures at the Interface of Motility-Induced Phase Separation
• Conservation laws and slow dynamics determine the universality class of interfaces in active matter
• What is active wetting?
• Chemotaxis-induced phase separation
• Hydrodynamics of Cooperation and Self-Interest in a Two-Population Occupation Model
• Shape-specific fluctuations of an active colloidal interface
• Non-equilibrium pathways between cluster morphologies in active phase separation: necking, rupture and cavitation
• Active Cahn-Hilliard theory for nonequilibrium phase separation: quantitative macroscopic predictions and a microscopic derivation