Aggregation and sedimentation of active Brownian particles at constant affinity

Abstract

We study the motility-induced phase separation of active particles driven through the interconversion of two chemical species controlled by ideal reservoirs (chemiostats). As a consequence, the propulsion speed is non-constant and depends on the actual inter-particle forces, enhancing the positive feedback between increased density and reduced motility that is responsible for the observed inhomogeneous density. For hard discs, we find that this effect is negligible and that the phase separation is controlled by the average propulsion speed. For soft particles and large propulsion speeds, however, we predict an observable impact on the collective behavior. We briefly comment on the reentrant behavior found for soft discs. Finally, we study the influence of non-constant propulsion on the sedimentation profile of non-interacting active particles.