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Updated: Jul 30, 2025

Multi-electrode Array Recordings of Neuronal Avalanches in Organotypic Cultures
Published on: August 1, 2011
Intermittent relaxation and avalanches in extremely persistent active matter
Yann-Edwin Keta1, Rituparno Mandal2, Peter Sollich2,3
1Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, 34095 Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
We use numerical simulations to study the dynamics of dense assemblies of self-propelled particles in the limit of extremely large, but finite, persistence times. In this limit, the system evolves intermittently between mechanical equilibria where active forces balance interparticle interactions. We develop an efficient numerical strategy allowing us to resolve the statistical properties of elastic and plastic relaxation events caused by activity-driven fluctuations. The system relaxes via a succession of scale-free elastic events and broadly distributed plastic events that both depend on the system size. Correlations between plastic events lead to emergent dynamic facilitation and heterogeneous relaxation dynamics. Our results show that dynamical behaviour in extremely persistent active systems is qualitatively similar to that of sheared amorphous solids, yet with some important differences.
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