Chirality, anisotropic viscosity and elastic anisotropy in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence

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

Various active materials exhibit strong spatio-temporal variability of their orientational order known as active turbulence, characterised by irregular and chaotic motion of topological defects, including colloidal suspensions, biofilaments, and bacterial colonies.In particular in three dimensions, it has not yet been explored how active turbulence responds to changes in material parameters and chirality.Here, we present a numerical study of three-dimensional (3D) active nematic turbulence, examining the influence of main material constants: (i) the flow-alignment viscosity, (ii) the magnitude and anisotropy of elastic deformation modes (elastic constants), and (iii) the chirality. Specifically, this main parameter space covers contractile or extensile, flow-aligning or flow tumbling, chiral or achiral elastically anisotropic active nematic fluids. The results are presented using time- and space-averaged fields of defect density and mean square velocity. The results also discuss defect density and mean square velocity as possible effective order parameters in chiral active nematics, distinguishing two chiral nematic states—active nematic blue phase and chiral active turbulence. This research contributes to the understanding of active turbulence, providing a numerical main phase space parameter sweep to help guide future experimental design and use of active materials.

• Language: English
• Keywords: liquid crystals, active nematics, topological defects, active fluids
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 07.07.2024
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 7, art. no. 222
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-159745
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 2399-3650
• DOI: 10.1038/s42005-024-01720-8
• COBISS.SI-ID: 202054403
• Publication date in RUL: 22.07.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Communications physics
• Shortened title: Commun. phys.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 2399-3650
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2048602387

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: tekoči kristali, aktivni nematiki, topološki defekti, aktivne tekočine