Trapping and sorting active particles: Motility-induced condensation and smectic defects

Kumar, Nitin and Gupta, Rahul Kumar and Soni, Harsh and Ramaswamy, Sriram and Sood, AK (2019) Trapping and sorting active particles: Motility-induced condensation and smectic defects. In: PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 99 (3).

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Abstract

We present an experimental realization of the collective trapping phase transition Kaiser et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 268307 (2012)], using motile polar granular rods in the presence of a V-shaped obstacle. We offer a theory of this transition based on the interplay of motility-induced condensation and liquid-crystalline ordering and show that trapping occurs when persistent influx overcomes the collective expulsion of smectic defect structures. In agreement with the theory, our experiments find that a trap fills to the brim when the trap angle theta is below a threshold theta(c), while all particles escape for theta > theta(c). Our simulations support a further prediction, that B e goes down with increasing rotational noise. We exploit the sensitivity of trapping to the persistence of directed motion to sort particles based on the statistical properties of their activity.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL REVIEW E
Publisher:	AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	17 May 2019 11:11
Last Modified:	17 May 2019 11:11
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/62371

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