{
  "abstract": "Pairs of spheres sharing an acoustic trap sometimes spin intermittently despite having no self-propulsion, no obvious power source, and no symmetry-breaking mechanism, switching between rocking and spinning within a single trajectory. Nonreciprocal wave scattering powers this emergent activity, and drag shapes their dynamics by coupling rotations to translations. Mismatched pairs can pass through a supercritical Hopf bifurcation into a quasiperiodic torus on which the pair's orbit reverses regularly and, farther from equilibrium, into deterministic chaos. Experiments motivate this mechanism and share its qualitative signatures; simulations reveal a full noise-free route from passivity to chaos, and suggest how analogous dynamics can emerge in other active-matter systems.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.37946",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Matthew K. Gronert"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ben Cao"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ella M. King"
    },
    {
      "name": "David G. Grier"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7ckapf2gefbhx.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.37946",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "7ckapf2gefbhx",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37946",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.soft"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3104|Micro and Nano Robotics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214930049",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.37946",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7ckapf2gefbhx.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
      "native_id": "2609.37946",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37946"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.soft",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Emergent activity powers a path to chaos for pairs of acoustically trapped spheres",
  "title_text": "Emergent activity powers a path to chaos for pairs of acoustically trapped spheres",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7ckapf2gefbhx",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}