Synchronisation and liquid crystalline order in soft active fluids

We introduce a phenomenological theory for a new class of soft active fluids, with the ability to synchronise. Our theoretical framework describes the macroscopic behaviour of a collection of interacting anisotropic elements with cyclic internal dynamics and a periodic phase variable. This system (i) can spontaneously undergo a transition to a state with macroscopic orientational order, with the elements aligned: a liquid crystal, (ii) attain another broken symmetry state characterised by synchronisation of their phase variables or (iii) a combination of both types of order. We derive the equations describing a spatially homogeneous system and also study the hydrodynamic fluctuations of the soft modes in some of the ordered states. We find that synchronisation can promote the transition to a state with orientational order; and vice-versa. Finally, we provide an explicit microscopic realisation: a suspension of micro-swimmers driven by cyclic strokes.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Dynamics and interactions of active rotors

We consider a simple model of an internally driven self-rotating object; a rotor, confined to two dimensions by a thin film of low Reynolds number fluid. We undertake a detailed study of the hydrodynamic interactions between a pair of rotors and find that their effect on the resulting dynamics is a combination of fast and slow motions. We analyse the slow dynamics using an averaging procedure to take account of the fast degrees of freedom. Analytical results are compared with numerical simulations. Hydrodynamic interactions mean that while isolated rotors do not translate, bringing together a pair of rotors leads to motion of their centres. Two rotors spinning in the same sense rotate with an approximately constant angular velocity around each other, while two rotors of opposite sense, both translate with the same constant velocity, which depends on the separation of the pair. As a result a pair of counter-rotating rotors are a promising model for controlled self-propulsion.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Insulator-Metal transition in the Doped 3d1 Transition Metal Oxide LaTiO3

The doping induced insulator-metal transition in $La_{1-x}Sr_{x}TiO_{3}$ is studied using the ab-initio LDA+DMFT method. Combining the LDA bandstructure for the actual, distorted structure found recently with multi-orbital DMFT to treat electronic correlations, we find: $(i)$ ferro-orbital order in the Mott insulating state without orbital degeneracy, $(ii)$ a continuous filling induced transition to the paramagnetic metal (PM) with $x$, and $(iii)$ excellent quantitative agreement with published photoemission data for the case of 6% doping. Our results imply that this system can be described as a Mott-Hubbard system without orbital (liquid) degeneracy.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR