Rotational inertia-induced glassy transition in chiral particle systems

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Soft Matter Physics
• Active Matter Physics

Background:

• Dense active matter shares similarities with traditional glassy phenomena.
• The specific influence of rotational inertia on active matter glass dynamics is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of rotational inertia on the glass dynamics of chiral active particles.
• To understand how rotational inertia affects particle orientation, persistence time, and diffusion.

Main Methods:

• Simulations or theoretical modeling of chiral active particles.
• Analysis of the diffusion coefficient as a function of rotational inertia and spinning frequency.
• Examination of particle orientation dynamics and effective persistence time.

Main Results:

• Rotational inertia introduces exponential memory to particle orientation, increasing effective persistence time.
• At low spinning frequencies, diffusion coefficient shows a peak relative to rotational inertia for short persistence times and increases for longer persistence times.
• At high spinning frequencies, rotational inertia has a more pronounced, non-monotonic effect on diffusion.
• An optimal spinning frequency exists for maximum diffusion at a specific spinning temperature.

Conclusions:

• Rotational inertia is a key factor in controlling the fluid-glass transitions in chiral active matter.
• Modulating rotational inertia offers a method to tune the dynamic states of active matter systems.
• The findings reveal complex, frequency-dependent behaviors of diffusion influenced by rotational inertia.