Phase Segregation of Passive Advective Particles in an Active Medium

Amit Das, Anirban Polley, and Madan Rao
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 068306 – Published 11 February 2016
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Localized contractile configurations or asters spontaneously appear and disappear as emergent structures in the collective stochastic dynamics of active polar actomyosin filaments. Passive particles which (un)bind to the active filaments get advected into the asters, forming transient clusters. We study the phase segregation of such passive advective scalars in a medium of dynamic asters, as a function of the aster density and the ratio of the rates of aster remodeling to particle diffusion. The dynamics of coarsening shows a violation of Porod behavior; the growing domains have diffuse interfaces and low interfacial tension. The phase-segregated steady state shows strong macroscopic fluctuations characterized by multiscaling and intermittency, signifying rapid reorganization of macroscopic structures. We expect these unique nonequilibrium features to manifest in the actin-dependent molecular clustering at the cell surface.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 23 June 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.068306

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Polymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Amit Das1, Anirban Polley2, and Madan Rao1,2

  • 1Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR), Bangalore 560065, India
  • 2Raman Research Institute, C.V. Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560080, India

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 6 — 12 February 2016

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×