Bartnick Jörg, Kaiser Andreas, Löwen Hartmut, Ivlev Alexei V
Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
J Chem Phys. 2016 Jun 14;144(22):224901. doi: 10.1063/1.4953225.
In a bilayered system of particles with wake-mediated interactions, the action-reaction symmetry for the effective forces between particles of different layers is broken. Under quite general conditions we show that, if the interaction nonreciprocity exceeds a certain threshold, this creates an active dispersion of self-propelled clusters of Brownian particles. The emerging activity promotes unusual melting scenarios and an enormous diffusivity in the dense fluid. Our results are obtained by computer simulation and analytical theory and can be verified in experiments with colloidal dispersions and complex plasmas.
