Coexistence phase of the two-dimensional Vicsek model
Abstract
The Vicsek model continues to be central in statistical physics studies of active matter, with major recent surprises such as the partial metastability of the famous Toner-Tu flocking phase. Here we report on the diversity of band patterns observed in its coexistence phase --some of them never observed before--, but we also argue that most disappear in the infinite-size limit, leaving nevertheless a different picture than anticipated previously. We finally show that these rather regular, globally ordered band configurations can be destroyed by a localized perturbation: the coexistence phase is also at least partially metastable, and thus must be, asymptotically, a disordered phase made of a variety of chaotically interacting traveling bands.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{duan2026coexistence,
title = {{Coexistence phase of the two-dimensional Vicsek model}},
author = {Yu Duan and Hugues Chaté and Benoît Mahault and Xia-qing Shi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.26561},
eprint = {2610.26561},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26561},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coexistence phase of the two-dimensional Vicsek model
AU - Yu Duan
AU - Hugues Chaté
AU - Benoît Mahault
AU - Xia-qing Shi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.26561
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26561
AB - The Vicsek model continues to be central in statistical physics studies of active matter, with major recent surprises such as the partial metastability of the famous Toner-Tu flocking phase. Here we report on the diversity of band patterns observed in its coexistence phase --some of them never observed before--, but we also argue that most disappear in the infinite-size limit, leaving nevertheless a different picture than anticipated previously. We finally show that these rather regular, globally ordered band configurations can be destroyed by a localized perturbation: the coexistence phase is also at least partially metastable, and thus must be, asymptotically, a disordered phase made of a variety of chaotically interacting traveling bands.
ER -