From particles to continuum theories in effective models of self-propelled rods
Abstract
Models of colliding self-propelled rods are abstractions of many real systems such as gliding bacteria and biofilaments displaced by molecular motors. They have been studied mostly in two space dimensions and shown to display a wealth of different collective regimes with many parameters involved in the ensuing phase diagrams. Continuum-level theories faithful to this phenomenology are largely lacking since coarse-graining models of explicit rods is notoriously difficult. Here we study collections of particles in which the rods geometry is taken into account effectively, by implementing the nematic alignment of their velocities and two types of repulsion. These Vicsek-style models are simple enough to be starting points for systematic coarse-graining. We thus derive hydrodynamic equations that we show to have solutions qualitatively faithful to their particle-level origin.
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BibTeX
@misc{bronzo2026from,
title = {{From particles to continuum theories in effective models of self-propelled rods}},
author = {Elia Bronzo and Hugues Chaté and Benoît Mahault and Alexandre Solon},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.26593},
eprint = {2610.26593},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26593},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - From particles to continuum theories in effective models of self-propelled rods
AU - Elia Bronzo
AU - Hugues Chaté
AU - Benoît Mahault
AU - Alexandre Solon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.26593
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26593
AB - Models of colliding self-propelled rods are abstractions of many real systems such as gliding bacteria and biofilaments displaced by molecular motors. They have been studied mostly in two space dimensions and shown to display a wealth of different collective regimes with many parameters involved in the ensuing phase diagrams. Continuum-level theories faithful to this phenomenology are largely lacking since coarse-graining models of explicit rods is notoriously difficult. Here we study collections of particles in which the rods geometry is taken into account effectively, by implementing the nematic alignment of their velocities and two types of repulsion. These Vicsek-style models are simple enough to be starting points for systematic coarse-graining. We thus derive hydrodynamic equations that we show to have solutions qualitatively faithful to their particle-level origin.
ER -