On small bacterial colonies as active 2d nematics
On small bacterial colonies as active 2d nematics
- Event time: 1:00pm
- Event date: 14th October 2013
- Speaker: Dario Dell'Arciprete (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
- Location: Room 2511, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Active liquid crystals [1] are nonequilibrium systems composed of internally driven elongated units. The key feature that distinguishes them from their well-studied passive counterparts is that the are maintained out of equilibrium not by an external force acting on the system but by an energy input on each individual unit.Examples are monolayers of vibrated granular rods [2], mixtures of cytoskeletal filaments and associated motor proteins [3], and also bacterial suspensions. In this context, I will talk about (i) the experiment on small growing bacterial colonies immersed in an agar pad, (ii) the investigation of anisotropic cluster formation and of the nature of topological defects.
[1] S Ramaswamy, The mechanics and statistics of active matter, Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics, 2010 [2] V Narayan et al, Long-lived giant number fluctuations in a swarming granular nematic, Science, 2007 [3] T Sanchez et al, Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter, Nature, 2012
About Condensed Matter lunchtime seminars
This is a weekly series of informal talks given primarily by members of the institute of condensed matter and complex systems, but is also open to members of other groups and external visitors. The aim of the series is to promote discussion and learning of various topics at a level suitable to the broad background of the group. Everyone is welcome to attend..