Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

Duclos, Guillaume, Brandeis University, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9010-8952

Powers, Thomas, Brown University

Baskaran, Aparna, Brandeis University

Dogic, Zvonimir, University of California, Santa Barbara, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0142-1838

Vitelli, Vincenzo, University of Chicago

Toschi, Federico, Eindhoven University of Technology, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5935-2332

Adkins, Raymond, University of California, Santa Barbara, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7622-2812

Banerjee, Debarghya, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization

Peterson, Matthew, Brandeis University

Varghese, Minu, Brandeis University, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4410-0233

Kolvin, Itamar, University of California, Santa Barbara, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6869-1245

Pelcovits, Robert, Brown University

Streichan, Sebastian, University of California, Santa Barbara

Beller, Daniel, University of California, Merced, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1957-164X

Baskaran, Arvind, Brandeis University

Hagan, Michael, Brandeis University

Peterson, Matthew S. E., Brandeis University, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5749-7770

Pelcovits, Robert A., Brown University, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0520-7516

Powers, Thomas R., Brown University, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3432-8226

Hagan, Michael F., Brandeis University, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9211-2434

Streichan, Sebastian J., University of California, Santa Barbara

gduclos@brandeis.edu, thomas_powers@brown.edu, aparna@brandeis.edu, zdogic@physics.ucsb.edu, vitelli@uchicago.edu, f.toschi@tue.nl, radkins@ucsb.edu, debarghyabnrj@gmail.com, mpeterson@brandeis.edu, minu@brandeis.edu, itamar@ucsb.edu, robert_pelcovits@brown.edu, streicha@kitp.ucsb.edu, dbeller@ucmerced.edu, arvindbaskaran@gmail.com, hagan@brandeis.edu

Published Mar 19, 2020 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.25349/D9CS31

Cite this dataset

Duclos, Guillaume et al. (2020). Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.25349/D9CS31

Abstract

Topological structures are effective descriptors of the nonequilibrium dynamics of diverse many-body systems. For example, motile, point-like topological defects capture the salient features of two-dimensional active liquid crystals composed of energy-consuming anisotropic units. We dispersed force-generating microtubule bundles in a passive colloidal liquid crystal to form a three-dimensional active nematic. Light-sheet microscopy revealed the temporal evolution of the millimeter-scale structure of these active nematics with single-bundle resolution. The primary topological excitations are extended, charge-neutral disclination loops that undergo complex dynamics and recombination events. Our work suggests a framework for analyzing the nonequilibrium dynamics of bulk anisotropic systems as diverse as driven complex fluids, active metamaterials, biological tissues, and collections of robots or organisms.

Usage notes

To join the split files:

$ cat FiniteDifferenceData.part.* > FiniteDifferenceData.part.gz &
$ cat ExperimentalData.tar.part.* > ExperimentalData.tar.gz &

Funding

National Science Foundation, Award: 1855914

National Science Foundation, Award: MCB090163

National Science Foundation, Award: 1420382

National Science Foundation, Award: 1437195

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Award: 5R00HD088708-05

United States Department of Defense, Award: W911NF-19-1-0268

United States Department of Energy, Award: DE-SC0019733

International Human Frontier Science Program Organization, Award: LT001065/2017