Phase separation in a driven and active model system

In this talk I will present two phase separation scenarios in the presence of non-equilibrium forces. First, I will consider a system of particles, driven by an externally rotating field, that spins the particles at a fixed rate. Experimentally, this is realised by magnetic colloids in a rotating magnetic field. I'll model such chiral fluids as assemblies of Lennard-Jones disks interacting via non-conservative transverse forces and discuss their phase behaviour and dynamics. Then, I'll present another instance of phase separation, now driven by persistent, or active, motion. I'll present a field theoretical description, where activity is introduced at the level of the statistics of the noise, which has now memory over a given time scale. I'll discuss the impact that the latter persistence time has on the physics of model A and model B, eventually triggering a non-equilibrium phase transition in a parameter regime where these models would otherwise sit on a homogeneous disordered steady state.

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