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A Continuum Theory of Phase Separation Kinetics for Active Brownian Particles

Stenhammar, Joakim LU ; Tiribocchi, Adriano ; Allen, Rosalind J. ; Marenduzzo, Davide and Cates, Michael E. (2013) In Physical Review Letters 111.
Abstract
Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse-graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically compared to large-scale direct simulations of ABPs and accurately accounts for domain growth kinetics, domain topologies and coexistence densities.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Active Matter, Phase Separation Kinetics
in
Physical Review Letters
volume
111
article number
145702
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • wos:000325369600014
  • scopus:84885114675
  • pmid:24138255
ISSN
1079-7114
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.145702
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6360fd01-9ef3-4476-9c12-44ace5780e6f (old id 4075657)
alternative location
http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v111/i14/e145702
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:51:36
date last changed
2022-04-20 06:47:39
@article{6360fd01-9ef3-4476-9c12-44ace5780e6f,
  abstract     = {{Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse-graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically compared to large-scale direct simulations of ABPs and accurately accounts for domain growth kinetics, domain topologies and coexistence densities.}},
  author       = {{Stenhammar, Joakim and Tiribocchi, Adriano and Allen, Rosalind J. and Marenduzzo, Davide and Cates, Michael E.}},
  issn         = {{1079-7114}},
  keywords     = {{Active Matter; Phase Separation Kinetics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review Letters}},
  title        = {{A Continuum Theory of Phase Separation Kinetics for Active Brownian Particles}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2192164/4075658.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.145702}},
  volume       = {{111}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}