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Collective Chemotaxis of Colloidal and Living Active Matter
The non-equilibrium dynamics of active particles that send and receive chemical signals could lead to spontaneous formation of interesting structures and patterns due to the long-range nature of the interactions. I examine theoretically the consequences of this interaction, and present some results that exemplify the type of emergent properties that could result from them. In particular, I discuss the following : (1) spontaneous formation of small stable clusters or ``molecules’’ that can exhibit functionality that depends on geometry (2) collective chemotaxis in a solution of catalytically active colloids that could lead to cluster formation, aster condensation, and spontaneous oscillations, (3) swarming - in the form of a comet - of light-induced thermally active colloids with negative Soret coefficient due to a shadowing interaction, and (4) collective behaviour of a colony of cells that divide and interact chemotactically.