Boundary- and Screening-Induced Bubbly Phases in Autophoretic Active Matter
Abstract
Spatial confinement and chemical screening fundamentally reshape the non-equilibrium phase behavior of autophoretic active particles. Here, we present a systematic study mapping the collective dynamics of self-propelled particles governed by chemo-attractive translational forces (μt < 0) and chemo-repulsive rotational torques (μr > 0) across varying screening parameters κ, torque magnitudes μr, and boundary condition coefficients Λc. Beyond standard chemotactic macro-phase separation and dynamic clustering, we report the emergence of novel boundary- and screening-induced bubbly phases, classified into boiling and bursting bubbles. Using a metric triad of steady-state cluster fraction ⟨ S ⟩, temporal fluctuation magnitude σS, and coordination number ⟨ Q ⟩, we draw phase diagrams to demarcate phases for no-flux boundaries (Λc = 1) and chemically permeable interfaces (Λc = 0) . Increasing chemical screening (κ) systematically suppresses long-range attraction, driving sequential phase transitions from macro-scale collapse toward bubbly states, dynamic micro-clusters, and homogeneous gas phases, while simultaneously inducing aggregate shape anisotropy. These findings provide predictive design rules for controlling active assembly and transport in microfluidic environments.
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BibTeX
@misc{panja2026boundary,
title = {{Boundary- and Screening-Induced Bubbly Phases in Autophoretic Active Matter}},
author = {Kingshuk Panja and Günther Turk and Rajesh Singh},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.03991},
eprint = {2609.03991},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03991},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Boundary- and Screening-Induced Bubbly Phases in Autophoretic Active Matter
AU - Kingshuk Panja
AU - Günther Turk
AU - Rajesh Singh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03991
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03991
AB - Spatial confinement and chemical screening fundamentally reshape the non-equilibrium phase behavior of autophoretic active particles. Here, we present a systematic study mapping the collective dynamics of self-propelled particles governed by chemo-attractive translational forces (μ_t < 0) and chemo-repulsive rotational torques (μ_r > 0) across varying screening parameters κ, torque magnitudes μ_r, and boundary condition coefficients Λ^c. Beyond standard chemotactic macro-phase separation and dynamic clustering, we report the emergence of novel boundary- and screening-induced bubbly phases, classified into boiling and bursting bubbles. Using a metric triad of steady-state cluster fraction ⟨ S ⟩, temporal fluctuation magnitude σ_S, and coordination number ⟨ Q ⟩, we draw phase diagrams to demarcate phases for no-flux boundaries (Λ^c = 1) and chemically permeable interfaces (Λ^c = 0) . Increasing chemical screening (κ) systematically suppresses long-range attraction, driving sequential phase transitions from macro-scale collapse toward bubbly states, dynamic micro-clusters, and homogeneous gas phases, while simultaneously inducing aggregate shape anisotropy. These findings provide predictive design rules for controlling active assembly and transport in microfluidic environments.
ER -