Issue 33, 2023

Chiral active matter in external potentials

Abstract

We investigate the interplay between chirality and confinement induced by the presence of an external potential. For potentials having radial symmetry, the circular character of the trajectories induced by the chiral motion reduces the spatial fluctuations of the particle, thus providing an extra effective confining mechanism, that can be interpreted as a lowering of the effective temperature. In the case of non-radial potentials, for instance, with an elliptic shape, chirality displays a richer scenario. Indeed, the chirality can break the parity symmetry of the potential that is always fulfilled in the non-chiral system. The probability distribution displays a strong non-Maxwell–Boltzmann shape that emerges in cross-correlations between the two Cartesian components of the position, that vanishes in the absence of chirality or when radial symmetry of the potential is restored. These results are obtained by considering two popular models in active matter, i.e. chiral Active Brownian particles and chiral active Ornstein–Uhlenbeck particles.

Graphical abstract: Chiral active matter in external potentials

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Mezh. 2023
Accepted
03 Eost 2023
First published
03 Eost 2023

Soft Matter, 2023,19, 6234-6246

Chiral active matter in external potentials

L. Caprini, H. Löwen and U. Marini Bettolo Marconi, Soft Matter, 2023, 19, 6234 DOI: 10.1039/D3SM00793F

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