Influence of interaction softness in phase separation of active particles

Abstract

Using a minimal model of active Brownian discs, we study the effect of a crucial parameter, namely the softness of the inter-particle repulsion, on motility-induced phase separation. We show that an increase in particle softness reduces the ability of the system to phase-separate and the system exhibit a delayed transition. After phase separation, the system state properties can be explained by a single relevant lengthscale, the effective inter-particle distance. We estimate this lengthscale analytically and use it to rescale the state properties at dense phase for systems with different interaction softness. Using this lengthscale, we provide a scaling relation for the time taken to phase separate which shows a high sensitivity to the interaction softness.