Dynamics of self-organization in dense persistent active matter

Abstract

We consider a two-dimensional athermal binary mixture of Lennard-Jones particles with persistent random active forces. The liquid phase of this system for active forces exceeding a threshold value exhibits self-organization with long-range spatial correlations of particle velocities and active forces. We study by simulations the development of these correlations from a random initial state. Several characteristics of the growth of correlations are measured and compared with those of phase-ordering kinetics of equilibrium systems after a quench from a disordered state. The motion of the particles in the long-time steady state is found to be dominated by two streams that flow in opposite directions.