Theory of Reversed Ripening in Active Phase Separating Systems

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Jonathan Bauermann - , Harvard University (Author)
  • Giacomo Bartolucci - , University of Barcelona (Author)
  • Christoph A. Weber - , Augsburg University (Author)
  • Frank Jülicher - , Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), Clusters of Excellence PoL: Physics of Life (Author)

Abstract

The ripening dynamics in passive systems is governed by the theory of Lifshitz-Slyosov-Wagner (LSW). Here, we present an analog theory for reversed ripening in active systems. To derive the dynamic theory for the droplet size distribution, we consider a minimal ternary emulsion with one active reaction, leading to one conserved quantity. Even for cases where single droplets constantly grow, coupling many droplets via the conserved density in the far field leads to a self-organized reversal of ripening and, thus, a monodisperse emulsion. For late times, we find a scaling ansatz leading to the collapse of the rescaled size distributions, different from the LSW theory. This scaling behavior arises from a stable fixed point in the single droplet dynamics and may capture the late-time behavior of many active matter systems exhibiting reversed ripening.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number148201
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume135
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 41110051

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas