Phase behavior of a two-dimensional suspension of active pentagons

Abstract

Applying insights acquired when studying idealized particle systems to real-world amorphous materials remains a significant challenge, primarily due to the complex interplay between particles' shape and interaction mechanisms. It is known that regular pentagons do not tessellate the two dimensional plane, making them the simplest regular polygons unable to form periodic tiling. This geometric constraint, combined with the complexity of interactions among non-spherical particles, may give rise to rich emergent behaviors, especially when dealing with self-propelled pentagons. Thus, geometry, interactions, and self-propulsion collectively lead to novel dynamical emerging phases. In this context, we investigate how activity and excluded-volume interactions affect the collective behavior of a two-dimensional suspension of active pentagon-shaped particles. Our results reveal that active pentagons not only undergo an arrested motility-induced phase separation (MIPS) but, under given conditions, they form traveling/rotating clusters exhibiting translational/chiral motion. Interestingly, both phases present an enhanced stability due to particles' activity, shape and excluded-volume interactions, forming an ice-ray lattice whose internal structure represents the densest packing fraction a two-dimensional pentagon suspension may achieve.