ESPCI web site
Collective Motion in Dense Active Materials
We discuss how the nonequilibrium driving forces introduced by the natural biological activity or by physical self-propulsion mechanisms generically affect the structure, dynamics and phase behavior of dense active media. We use theory and computer simulations to analyse simple models of such active materials. We borrow concepts from the physics of dense amorphous materials to provide a physical understanding of experimental observations performed with more complex systems such as self-propelled colloidal systems, biological tissues, and bacterial colonies.