Tuesday October 9th (2018) @ LOMA

Par jc, . Lien permanent Seminar

Seminar at 2pm Room 215 Bat. A4N Campus Talence

Model experiments of active matter: at the interface between living organisms and theoretical models

Olivier Dauchot

ESPCI, Laboratoire Gulliver

The ubiquity of collective motions observed at all scales in biological systems has driven a surge of scientific activity. Within physics, important theoretical progress was achieved by studying microscopic point-particles models and their continuous descriptions. Among the landmark results are the possibility of a true long-range polar ordered collective motion as well as of a Motility Induced Phase Separation (MIPS). The robustness of these observations against the numerous factors integrated out in the above effective models is a matter of crucial importance.

This is where human-designed model experimental systems have a key role to play. Janus colloids, swimming droplets or walking grains are amazing experimental realization of self propelled particles. They are far more simple than their biological inspiration, and already contain important realistic factors, such as hydrodynamics effects and pairwise force interactions, which, at least in principle, can be controlled.

In the present talk, I will illustrate that matter in the case of two remarkable experimental systems, namely rolling colloids 1 and walking grains 2,3.

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1 Bricard, A., Caussin, J.-B., Desreumaux, N., Dauchot, O. & Bartolo, D. Emergence of macroscopic directed motion in populations of motile colloids. Nature 503, 95–98 (2013).

2 Deseigne, J., Dauchot, O. & Chaté, H. Collective Motion of Vibrated Polar Disks. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, (2010).

3 Briand, G. & Dauchot, O. Crystallization of Self-Propelled Hard Discs. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 098004–5 (2016).