Entropons as collective excitations in active solids

Abstract

The vibrational dynamics of solids is described by phonons constituting basic collective excitations in equilibrium crystals. Here we consider an active crystal composed of self-propelled particles which bring the system into a non-equilibrium steady-state governed by entropy production. Calculating the entropy production spectrum, we put forward the picture of "entropons", which are vibrational collective excitations responsible for entropy production. Entropons are purely generated by activity and coexist with phonons but dominate over them for large self-propulsion strength. The existence of entropons can be verified in experiments on dense self-propelled colloidal Janus-particles and granular active matter, as well as in living systems such as dense cell monolayers.