Nonequilibrium clustering of self-propelled rods.
Motivated by aggregation phenomena in gliding bacteria, we study collective motion in a two-dimensional model of active, self-propelled rods interacting through volume exclusion. In simulations with individual particles, we find that particle clustering is facilitated by a sufficiently large packing fraction eta or length-to-width ratio kappa . The transition to clustering in simulations is well captured by a mean-field model for the cluster size distribution, which predicts that the transition values kappac of the aspect ratio for a fixed packing fraction eta are given by kappac=Ceta-1 where C is a constant.
Peruani
Fernando
F
Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Strasse 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany.
Deutsch
Andreas
A
Bär
Markus
M
D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion