title: Swarming and swirling in self-propelled polar granular rods.
abstract: Using experiments with anisotropic vibrated rods and quasi-2D numerical simulations, we show that shape plays an important role in the collective dynamics of self-propelled (SP) particles. We demonstrate that SP rods exhibit local ordering, aggregation at the side walls, and clustering absent in round SP particles. Furthermore, we find that at sufficiently strong excitation SP rods engage in a persistent swirling motion in which the velocity is strongly correlated with particle orientation.
authors: Department of Physics, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610, USA.
authors: Arshad
authors: A
authors: Kudrolli
authors: Geoffroy
authors: G
authors: Lumay
authors: Dmitri
authors: D
authors: Volfson
authors: Lev S
authors: LS
authors: Tsimring
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D043942:Nanotubes; D009757:Nylons; D010316:Particle Size; D014732:Vibration
chemical_list: D009757:Nylons