Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

Guillaume Duclos; Raymond Adkins; Debarghya Banerjee; Matthew S E Peterson; Minu Varghese; Itamar Kolvin; Arvind Baskaran; Robert A Pelcovits; Thomas R Powers; Aparna Baskaran; Federico Toschi; Michael F Hagan; Sebastian J Streichan; Vincenzo Vitelli; Daniel A Beller; Zvonimir Dogic

doi:10.1126/science.aaz4547

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Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

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Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

Guillaume Duclos, Raymond Adkins, Debarghya Banerjee, Matthew S E Peterson, Minu Varghese, Itamar Kolvin, Arvind Baskaran, Robert A Pelcovits, Thomas R Powers, Aparna Baskaran, …

Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.367(6482), pp.1120-1124

03/06/2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz4547

PMID: 32139540

Abstract

Topological structures are effective descriptors of the nonequilibrium dynamics of diverse many-body systems. For example, motile, point-like topological defects capture the salient features of two-dimensional active liquid crystals composed of energy-consuming anisotropic units. We dispersed force-generating microtubule bundles in a passive colloidal liquid crystal to form a three-dimensional active nematic. Light-sheet microscopy revealed the temporal evolution of the millimeter-scale structure of these active nematics with single-bundle resolution. The primary topological excitations are extended, charge-neutral disclination loops that undergo complex dynamics and recombination events. Our work suggests a framework for analyzing the nonequilibrium dynamics of bulk anisotropic systems as diverse as driven complex fluids, active metamaterials, biological tissues, and collections of robots or organisms.

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Title: Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics
Creators: Guillaume Duclos - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Raymond Adkins - Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, USA
Debarghya Banerjee - Instituut-Lorentz, Universiteit Leiden, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
Matthew S E Peterson - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Minu Varghese - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Itamar Kolvin - Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, USA
Arvind Baskaran - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Robert A Pelcovits - Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
Thomas R Powers - Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
Aparna Baskaran - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Federico Toschi - Instituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo CNR, 00185 Rome, Italy
Michael F Hagan - Department of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Sebastian J Streichan - Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, USA
Vincenzo Vitelli - James Frank Institute and Department of Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Daniel A Beller - Department of Physics, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA. dbeller@ucmerced.edu zdogic@ucsb.edu
Zvonimir Dogic - Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, USA
Publication Details: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.367(6482), pp.1120-1124
Publisher: United States
Grant note: R00 HD088708 / NICHD NIH HHS
Identifiers: 9923958155501921
Academic Unit: Martin A. Fisher School of Physics
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

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