Elasticity, Stress, and Activity: An Intriguing Interplay

Speaker: Gustavo During (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile)

Abstract:

Active matter exhibits fascinating phenomena that have attracted significant attention over recent decades. Systems ranging from biological cell colonies to synthetic robotic assemblies have demonstrated diverse emergent behaviors, including collective motion and motility-induced phase separation. Recently, attention has shifted toward densely packed particle assemblies, where elasticity and stress propagation intricately couple with particle activity, leading to novel and largely unexplored physics.

In this talk, we first explore the yielding transition in active systems, drawing comparisons with passive shear-stressed solids. We show that active systems undergo an avalanche-driven yielding transition that shares similarities but also intriguing differences with the passive case. Additionally, we discuss the effect of self-alignment interaction, which emerges naturally in many systems and couples with mechanical stresses, resulting in remarkable phenomena within the solid phase. Collective motion, active wave propagation, and active actuation phenomena will be discussed during the presentation.

This seminar will take place in room L1.17