Overview
We will have a special Work-In-Progress meeting next week on Friday, August 21st at 2:00pm at the Hancock center (in the auditorium, north side of the 35th floor), followed by Science+Tea in the kitchen area at 3:00pm! More information on the talk and building access is included below.
Speaker: Alberto Dinelli (Université de Géneve)
Title: Emergent phenomena in active matter: From community formation to nematopolar strings
Abstract: Active matter describes systems whose constituents generate non-conservative forces on their environment, leading to the wealth of emergent phenomena encountered in the living world. To study their self-organization, the first step is to identify the relevant slow modes describing the collective structures that emerge, from scalar fields to polar and nematic modes.
In this talk, I will discuss two examples of self-organization in active systems: one scalar system, and one where polar and nematic order interact.In the first part, I will investigate the role of random motility regulation in the self-organization of microbial ecosystems consisting of $N \gg 1$ species. Relying on particle-based simulations, coarse-graining methods and random matrix theory, I will show how weak random interactions are sufficient to fragment the ecosystem into distinct, spatially segregated communities.
In the second part, I will consider system where polar and nematic order couple to one another, a situation encountered both in epithelial tissues and in cytoskeletal filaments. This coupling produces string-like topological defects or topological strings. In a compressible fluid where the density field undergoes continuous turnover, topological strings are stabilized into non-equilibrium configurations, revealing the subtle interplay between scalar, polar and nematic order in active matter.
About Work-in-Progress: Work-in-Progress meetings are a venue for members of the NITMB community to discuss planned or in-progress work.
Building access: If you do not have badge access, please request a One-day or Week pass at least one business day in advance. More instructions on how to obtain a temporary pass/badge and reserve office space for the day can be found at https://www.nitmb.org/visit
Parking and Transit Information: https://www.