Defect line coarsening and refinement in active nematics

Kralj, Nika (author), Ravnik, Miha (author), Kos, Žiga (author)

Active matter is naturally out of equilibrium which results in the emergence of diverse dynamic steady states, including the omnipresent chaotic state known as the active turbulence. However, much less is known how active systems dynamically depart out of these configurations, such as get excited or damped to a different dynamic steady state. In this Letter, we demonstrate the coarsening and refinement dynamics of topological defect lines in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence. Specifically, using theory and numerical modeling, we are able to predict the evolution of the active defect density away from the steady state due to time-dependent activity or viscoelastic material properties, establishing a single length scale phenomenological description of defect line coarsening and refinement in a three-dimensional active nematic. The approach is first applied to growth dynamics of a single active defect loop, and then to a full threedimensional active defect network. More generally, this Letter provides insight into the general coarsening phenomena between dynamical regimes in 3Dactivematter, with a possible analogy in other physical systems.

• Language: English
• Keywords: soft matter physics, active nematics
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 21.03.2023
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 128101-1-128101-6
• Numbering: Vol. 130, iss. 12
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-155522
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 0031-9007
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.128101
• COBISS.SI-ID: 147577091
• Publication date in RUL: 05.04.2024

KRALJ, Nika, RAVNIK, Miha and KOS, Žiga, 2023, Defect line coarsening and refinement in active nematics. Physical review letters [online]. 2023. Vol. 130, no. 12, p. 128101-1-128101–6. [Accessed 14 April 2025]. DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.128101. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=155522

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Physical review letters
• Shortened title: Phys. rev. lett.
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1282575

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: fizika mehke snovi, aktivni nematiki