The 2025 motile active matter roadmap

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Gerhard Gompper - , Jülich Research Centre (Author)
  • Howard A. Stone - , Princeton University (Author)
  • Christina Kurzthaler - , TUD Dresden University of Technology, Clusters of Excellence PoL: Physics of Life (Author)
  • David Saintillan - , University of California at San Diego (Author)
  • Fernado Peruani - , CY Cergy Paris Université (Author)
  • Dmitry A. Fedosov - , Jülich Research Centre (Author)
  • Thorsten Auth - , Jülich Research Centre (Author)
  • Cecile Cottin-Bizonne - , Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Author)
  • Christophe Ybert - , Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Author)
  • Eric Clément - , ESPCI, Institut universitaire de France (Author)
  • Thierry Darnige - , ESPCI (Author)
  • Anke Lindner - , ESPCI, Institut universitaire de France (Author)
  • Raymond E. Goldstein - , University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Benno Liebchen - , Technische Universität Darmstadt (Author)
  • Jack Binysh - , University of Amsterdam (Author)
  • Anton Souslov - , University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Lucio Isa - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Roberto di Leonardo - , University of Rome La Sapienza (Author)
  • Giacomo Frangipane - , University of Rome La Sapienza (Author)
  • Hongri Gu - , University of Konstanz (Author)
  • Bradley J. Nelson - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Fridtjof Brauns - , University of California at Santa Barbara (Author)
  • M. Cristina Marchetti - , University of California at Santa Barbara (Author)
  • Frank Cichos - , Leipzig University (Author)
  • Veit Lorenz Heuthe - , University of Konstanz (Author)
  • Clemens Bechinger - , University of Konstanz (Author)
  • Amos Korman - , University of Haifa (Author)
  • Ofer Feinerman - , Weizmann Institute of Science (Author)
  • Andrea Cavagna - , National Research Council of Italy (CNR), University of Rome La Sapienza (Author)
  • Irene Giardina - , National Research Council of Italy (CNR), University of Rome La Sapienza (Author)
  • Hannah Jeckel - , California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) (Author)
  • Knut Drescher - , University of Basel (Author)

Abstract

Activity and autonomous motion are fundamental aspects of many living and engineering systems. Here, the scale of biological agents covers a wide range, from nanomotors, cytoskeleton, and cells, to insects, fish, birds, and people. Inspired by biological active systems, various types of autonomous synthetic nano- and micromachines have been designed, which provide the basis for multifunctional, highly responsive, intelligent active materials. A major challenge for understanding and designing active matter is their inherent non-equilibrium nature due to persistent energy consumption, which invalidates equilibrium concepts such as free energy, detailed balance, and time-reversal symmetry. Furthermore, interactions in ensembles of active agents are often non-additive and non-reciprocal. An important aspect of biological agents is their ability to sense the environment, process this information, and adjust their motion accordingly. It is an important goal for the engineering of micro-robotic systems to achieve similar functionality. Many fundamental properties of motile active matter are by now reasonably well understood and under control. Thus, the ground is now prepared for the study of physical aspects and mechanisms of motion in complex environments, the behavior of systems with new physical features like chirality, the development of novel micromachines and microbots, the emergent collective behavior and swarming of intelligent self-propelled particles, and particular features of microbial systems. The vast complexity of phenomena and mechanisms involved in the self-organization and dynamics of motile active matter poses major challenges, which can only be addressed by a truly interdisciplinary effort involving scientists from biology, chemistry, ecology, engineering, mathematics, and physics. The 2025 motile active matter roadmap of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter reviews the current state of the art of the field and provides guidance for further progress in this fascinating research area.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number143501
JournalJournal of Physics Condensed Matter
Volume37
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 7 Apr 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • active matter, intelligent matter, microbots, microswimmers, non-equilibrium systems, non-reciprocal interactions, swarming