Dr Silke Henkes

Dynamical patterns for polar and nematic active particles on a sphere

Active agents moving on curved surfaces are a mechanism for pattern formation that his harnessed by biological systems, like the mammalian cornea, and the crypts and villi of the gut. Active filaments also recently been used to produce a wealth of oscillating, folding and turbulent patterns on spherical and toroidal vesicles.
In this talk, I will present results of simulating simplified models of polar and nematics particles moving on a sphere. Based on the Poincare-Hopf theorem and the physics of liquid crystals, polar particles form a ring swarm around the equator, while nematic particles form oscillating tetrahedral, band, folding and turbulent states. I will discuss the generic origin of these patterns, and will conclude with preliminary results from a more realistic model of polymers with active pair interactions.