Theories of collective dynamics and active matter constitute a set of analytical and computational techniques used to model systems of self-driven units that convert internal or ambient energy into persistent motion, leading to emergent nonequilibrium phenomena. These techniques include continuum hydrodynamic theories, kinetic theory approaches, and agent-based modeling frameworks that describe pattern formation, phase separation, flocking, and anomalous transport in active systems. They provide mathematical tools to derive effective equations of motion, quantify correlations and fluctuations, and predict macroscopic behavior from microscopic interaction rules, enabling systematic analysis of biological, synthetic, and granular active materials beyond equilibrium statistical mechanics.
Asymmetric interactions between molecules may serve as a stabilizing factor for biological systems. A new model by researchers in the Department of Living Matter Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization ...
General Physics
Apr 22, 2025
0
92
Phase transitions in the collective motions of self-propelled particles are directly impacted both by the initial velocity of each particle, and the repulsive radius surrounding them.
General Physics
Jan 6, 2025
0
14
Non-reciprocal interactions can increase the order in an active system. This is the finding of a study by scientists from the department of Living Matter Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization ...
General Physics
Dec 12, 2024
0
54
Many fundamental processes of life, and their synthetic counterparts in nanotechnology, are based on the autonomous assembly of individual particles into complex patterns. LMU physicist Professor Erwin Frey, Chair of Statistical ...
General Physics
Aug 21, 2024
0
9
A previously unknown mechanism of active matter self-organization essential for bacterial cell division follows the motto "dying to align": Misaligned filaments "die" spontaneously to form a ring structure at the center of ...
General Physics
Aug 12, 2024
1
100
In a paper in Physical Review Letters scientists from the department Living Matter Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) propose a mechanism on how energy barriers in complex systems ...
General Physics
Jul 25, 2024
0
25
Physicists are also interested in fish—above all when they are researching the formation of structures. A research team from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) has ...
General Physics
Mar 25, 2024
0
75
Topological solitons can be found in many places and at many different length scales. For example, they take the form of kinks in coiled telephone cords and large molecules such as proteins. At a very different scale, a black ...
General Physics
Mar 20, 2024
0
102
In nature, the collective motion of some birds and fish, such as flocks of starlings and shoals of sardines, respectively, can generate impressive dynamic phenomena. Their study constitutes active matter science, which has ...
Nanophysics
Feb 13, 2024
0
31
Researchers from the University of Maine and Penn State discovered that molecules experience non-reciprocal interactions without external forces.
Condensed Matter
Dec 29, 2023
0
1006
