Emergent mesoscale correlations in active solids with noisy chiral dynamics

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Soft Matter Physics
• Statistical Mechanics

Background:

• Active matter systems exhibit complex emergent behaviors.
• Chirality in constituent particles introduces unique dynamic and ordering phenomena.
• Understanding the collective dynamics of chiral active solids is crucial for materials science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a linear response theory for elastic solids composed of chiral active Brownian particles.
• To analytically compute velocity correlations and energy spectra.
• To construct a phase diagram and identify emergent states.

Main Methods:

• Derivation of normal mode and continuum elastic formulations for linear response theory.
• Analytical computation of velocity correlations and energy spectra.
• Numerical simulations to validate theoretical predictions and explore system robustness.
• Phase diagram generation based on chirality and noise levels.

Main Results:

• Excellent agreement between analytical predictions and simulation results.
• Identification of chiral and achiral disordered regimes and mesoscopic-range ordered states.
• Observation of oscillating time correlations and lack of wave propagation in chiral ordered states.
• Emergence of a 'hammering state' in the high chirality regime.

Conclusions:

• The developed linear response theory is robust and applicable to homogeneous and heterogeneous active systems.
• The theory provides a detailed understanding of emergent phases and dynamics in chiral active matter.
• The findings are relevant for a broad range of real-world active systems, including chiral glasses.