5 papers · 1 filter
Self-assembling clusters of particles on a shrinking liquid surface
Xin Li, Shuchen Zhang, Mark J. Bowick +1
After rainfall, pine needles often float on the surface of small puddles. As the water evaporates, they self-assemble into distinct clusters. Motivated by this natural phenomenon,…
Active assembly and non-reciprocal dynamics of elastic membranes
John Berezney, Sattvic Ray, Itamar Kolvin +6
Equilibrium self-assembly and conventional materials processing techniques fall far short of mimicking dynamic self-actuating processes that are commonplace throughout biology. To…
Active Solids: Topological Defect Self-Propulsion Without Flow
Fridtjof Brauns, Myles O'Leary, Arthur Hernandez +2
The self-propulsion of +1/2 topological defects is a hallmark of active nematic fluids, where the defects are advected by the flow field they themselves generate. In this paper we…
Topological Rigidity and Non-Abelian defect junctions in chiral nematic systems with effective biaxial symmetry
Jin-Sheng Wu, Roberto Abril Valenzuela, Mark J. Bowick +1
We study topologically stable defect structures in systems where the defect line classification in three dimensions and associated algebra of interactions (the fundamental group) a…
Design rules for controlling active topological defects
Suraj Shankar, Luca V. D. Scharrer, Mark J. Bowick +1
Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous partic…