Flow and Structure in Nonequilibrium Brownian Many-Body Systems

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Statistical Mechanics
• Soft Matter

Background:

• Understanding nonequilibrium structure formation under collective flow is crucial in many-body systems.
• Existing models often lack a unified framework for analyzing forces in these complex systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a fundamental classification of forces relevant in nonequilibrium structure formation under collective flow.
• To systematically split the internal one-body force field into contributions for spatial structure and coupled motion.

Main Methods:

• Systematic splitting of the internal one-body force field.
• Demonstration of straightforward computation in computer simulations.
• Development of a power functional theory for quantitative force description.

Main Results:

• A fundamental classification of forces in collective flow is established.
• Contributions to spatial structure and coupled motion are clearly delineated.
• A power functional theory provides quantitative descriptions of all force types.

Conclusions:

• The presented classification and theory are broadly applicable to collective flow phenomena.
• Methods are relevant for both Brownian systems and inertial systems like molecular liquids and granular media.
• This work provides a foundational framework for studying nonequilibrium structure formation.