Active crystals on a sphere
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Contributors
Abstract
Two-dimensional crystals on curved manifolds exhibit nontrivial defect structures. Here we consider "active crystals" on a sphere, which are composed of self-propelled colloidal particles. Our work is based on a phase-field-crystal-type model that involves a density and a polarization field on the sphere. Depending on the strength of the self-propulsion, three different types of crystals are found: a static crystal, a self-spinning "vortex-vortex" crystal containing two vortical poles of the local velocity, and a self-translating "source-sink" crystal with a source pole where crystallization occurs and a sink pole where the active crystal melts. These different crystalline states as well as their defects are studied theoretically here and can in principle be confirmed in experiments.
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 052615 |
| Journal | Physical Review E |
| Volume | 97 |
| Publication status | Published - 24 May 2018 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| Scopus | 85047780948 |
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