https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-024-01273-5
Review
An introduction to phase ordering in scalar active matter
The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, OX1 3PU, Oxford, UK
b
julia.yeomans@physics.ox.ac.uk
Received:
15
February
2024
Accepted:
22
July
2024
Published online:
5
August
2024
These notes provide an introduction to phase ordering in dry, scalar active matter. We first briefly review Model A and Model B, the long-standing continuum descriptions of ordering in systems with a non-conserved and conserved scalar order parameter. We then contrast different ways in which the field theories can be extended so that the phase ordering persists, but in systems that are active and do not reach thermodynamic equilibrium. The active models allow a wide range of dynamical steady states not seen in their passive counterparts. These include microphase separation, active foams and travelling density bands.
© The Author(s) 2024
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