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Engineering living worms and active crystals with colloids propelled by attractive time-delayed feedback
1Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga 525-8577, Japan.
The Journal of Chemical Physics
|July 23, 2025
Summary
Computer simulations reveal how time-delayed feedback affects colloidal particles. Long delays cause oscillations and collapse of particle crystallites into close-packed lattices, forming new states like "living worms".
Area of Science:
- Soft Matter Physics
- Computational Physics
- Colloidal Science
Background:
- Colloidal particles exhibit complex dynamics influenced by interactions.
- Time-delayed feedback is a key factor in active matter systems.
- Understanding particle self-assembly is crucial for materials science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dynamics of colloidal particles with time-delayed feedback.
- To analyze the formation of structures and emergent behaviors in feedback-controlled particle systems.
- To explore the impact of feedback ring size and time delay on particle self-assembly.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing computer simulations to model colloidal particle behavior.
- Implementing time-delayed feedback mechanisms, specifically 'feedback-pullers'.
- Analyzing particle trajectories, lattice formation, and emergent collective behaviors.
Main Results:
- Single particles show reduced diffusion with small rings and activity with large rings.
- Multiple particles form crystallites with lattice constants determined by feedback ring radius.
- Long time delays induce oscillations, crystallite collapse to close-packed lattices, and formation of 'living worms' or square-lattice crystallites.
Conclusions:
- Time-delayed feedback significantly alters colloidal particle dynamics and self-assembly.
- Long delays can lead to unexpected phase transitions and novel collective behaviors.
- The study highlights the potential for designing complex particle systems through tailored feedback control.
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