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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Forming, Confining, and Observing Microtubule-Based Active Nematics
Published on: January 13, 2023
Static structure of active Brownian hard disks
N de Macedo Biniossek1, H Löwen1, Th Voigtmann1,2
1Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Abstract:
We explore the changes in static structure of a two-dimensional system of active Brownian particles (ABP) with hard-disk interactions, using event-driven Brownian dynamics simulations. In particular, the effect of the self-propulsion velocity and the rotational diffusivity on the orientationally-averaged fluid structure factor is discussed. Typically activity increases structural ordering and generates a structure factor peak at zero wave vector which is a precursor of motility-induced phase separation. Our results provide reference data to test future statistical theories for the fluid structure of active Brownian systems. This manuscript was submitted for the special issue of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter associated with the Liquid Matter Conference 2017.
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