Collective behavior of soft self-propelled disks with rotational inertia

Abstract

We investigate collective properties of a large system of soft self-propelled inertial disks with active Langevin dynamics simulation in two dimensions. Rotational inertia of the disks is found to favor motility induced phase separation (MIPS), due to increased effective persistence of the disks. The MIPS phase diagram in the parameter space of rotational inertia and disk softness is reported over a range of values of translation inertia and self-propulsion strength of the disks. Our analytical prediction of the phase boundary between the homogeneous (no-MIPS) and MIPS state in the limit of small and large rotational inertia is found to agree with the numerical data over a large range of translational inertia. Shape of the high density MIPS phase is found to change from circular to rectangular one as the system moves away from the phase boundary. Structural and dynamical properties of the system, measured by several physical quantities, are found to be invariant in the central region of the high density MIPS phase, whereas they are found to vary gradually near the peripheral region of the high density phase. Importantly, the width of the peripheral region near the phase boundary is much larger compared to the narrow peripheral region far away from the phase boundary. Rich dynamics of the disks inside the high density MIPS phase is addressed. Spatial correlation of velocity of the disks is found to increase with rotational inertia and disk hardness. However, temporal correlation of the disks’ velocity is found to be a function of rotational inertia, while it is independent of disk softness.