Microphase Separation in Quorum-Sensing Active Particles with Competing Interactions
Abstract
Standard quorum-sensing models in active matter exhibit collective phenomena such as motility-induced phase separation. Here, we show that incorporating competing sensing ranges-- a minimal ingredient inspired by microbial communication --qualitatively changes this behavior, replacing macroscopic phase separation with self-organized microphases characterized by an emergent finite length scale. Starting from the microscopic dynamics, we derive a coarse-grained field theory whose coefficients are explicitly related to the moments of the microscopic sensing function. This mapping enables a direct comparison between particle-based simulations and continuum theory, allowing the characteristic modulation and correlation lengths to be predicted directly from the microscopic interaction parameters. Two-dimensional numerical simulations confirm these predictions and reveal a transition from macrophase separation to finite-wavelength density modulations as the competition between sensing scales increases. For stronger competing interactions, the system develops a peculiar cluster phase with an interstitial percolating network, which is captured by a higher-order gradient expansion. Our results identify competing quorum-sensing interactions as a simple microscopic mechanism for generating tunable active microphases.
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BibTeX
@misc{antonioli2026microphase,
title = {{Microphase Separation in Quorum-Sensing Active Particles with Competing Interactions}},
author = {Michele Antonioli and Nicoletta Gnan and Claudio Maggi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.23259},
eprint = {2607.23259},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.23259},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Microphase Separation in Quorum-Sensing Active Particles with Competing Interactions
AU - Michele Antonioli
AU - Nicoletta Gnan
AU - Claudio Maggi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.23259
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.23259
AB - Standard quorum-sensing models in active matter exhibit collective phenomena such as motility-induced phase separation. Here, we show that incorporating competing sensing ranges-- a minimal ingredient inspired by microbial communication --qualitatively changes this behavior, replacing macroscopic phase separation with self-organized microphases characterized by an emergent finite length scale. Starting from the microscopic dynamics, we derive a coarse-grained field theory whose coefficients are explicitly related to the moments of the microscopic sensing function. This mapping enables a direct comparison between particle-based simulations and continuum theory, allowing the characteristic modulation and correlation lengths to be predicted directly from the microscopic interaction parameters. Two-dimensional numerical simulations confirm these predictions and reveal a transition from macrophase separation to finite-wavelength density modulations as the competition between sensing scales increases. For stronger competing interactions, the system develops a peculiar cluster phase with an interstitial percolating network, which is captured by a higher-order gradient expansion. Our results identify competing quorum-sensing interactions as a simple microscopic mechanism for generating tunable active microphases.
ER -