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Dynamical Pattern Formation without Self-Attraction in Quorum-Sensing Active Matter: The Interplay between
Yu Duan1, Jaime Agudo-Canalejo1, Ramin Golestanian1,2
1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
We study a minimal model involving two species of particles interacting via quorum-sensing rules. Combining simulations of the microscopic model and linear stability analysis of the associated coarse-grained field theory, we identify a mechanism for dynamical pattern formation that does not rely on the standard route of intraspecies effective attractive interactions. Instead, our results reveal a highly dynamical phase of chasing bands induced only by the combined effects of self-propulsion and nonreciprocity in the interspecies couplings. Turning on self-attraction, we find that the system may phase separate into a macroscopic domain of such chaotic chasing bands coexisting with a dilute gas. We show that the chaotic dynamics of bands at the interfaces of this phase-separated phase results in anomalously slow coarsening.
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