Collective dynamics of active circle-swimming Lennard–Jones particles

Abstract

We report a numerical study on the collective dynamics of self-propelling and circle-swimming Lennard–Jones (LJ) particles in two dimensions using Brownian dynamics simulations. We investigate the combined role of attraction, self-propulsion and rotation in their phase behavior. At a low rotational speed, the system shows re-entrant phase behavior as a function of self-propulsion similar to active Brownian particles (ABPs). Increasing the rotational speed shifts the point of re-entrance or makes it disappear depending on the attractive strength. Although active rotation is known to suppress motility induced phase separation, the presence of attractive interactions reduces this effect.