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Updated: Oct 13, 2025

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers
Published on: August 18, 2017
Spontaneous chiralization of polar active particles
Marco De Corato1, Ignacio Pagonabarraga2, Giovanniantonio Natale3
1Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
Abstract:
Polar active particles constitute a wide class of active matter that is able to propel along a preferential direction, given by their polar axis. Here, we demonstrate a generic active mechanism that leads to their spontaneous chiralization through a symmetry-breaking instability. We find that the transition of an active particle from a polar to a chiral symmetry is characterized by the emergence of active rotation and of circular trajectories. The instability is driven by the advection of a solute that interacts differently with the two portions of the particle surface and it occurs through a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation.
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