Using the force landscape of an active solid to predict plastic deformation

Abstract

Non-active disordered solids feature quasilocalized excitations that control plasticity, similar to crystal lattice defects, and these excitations can be identified via harmonic or anharmonic analyses of the potential energy landscape. Here we explore whether such ideas can be extended to active matter, focusing on dense packings of self-propelled rods. We generalize the definition of nonlinear excitations to force landscapes that incorporate active, non-conservative forces and find that force-based cubic excitations robustly predict future plastic events, enabling control of active solids.