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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 22: Pattern Formation

DY 22.5: Vortrag

Dienstag, 10. März 2026, 10:30–10:45, ZEU/0118

Coarsening dynamics and interface instabilities in coupled conserved pattern-forming systems — Benjamin Winkler¹, Sergio Alonso², and •Markus Bär³ — ¹RKI and FU Berlin, Germany — ²UPC Barcelona, Spain — ³PTB and TU Berlin, Germany

We investigate the coarsening dynamics of non-variationally coupled, mass-conserved pattern-forming systems. Our main example is a model describing multiscale pattern formation via the interaction of membrane binding proteins with a multicomponent lipid membrane. We find that the coupling of a reaction-diffusion system for a protein species to an equation describing the phase composition of a lipid membrane exhibiting active phase separation leads to arrested coarsening for strong enough coupling. In addition, inverse coarsening is found if simulations start from large domains. We show that these phenomena are closely connected with interface instabilities and an exceptional point in the linear properties of the spatially homogeneous state both of which emerge for strong-enough non-variational coupling. Similar phenomena are also found in a version of the non-reciprocally coupled Cahn-Hilliard equations, which have similar linear behavior and instabilities, and in a qualitative model for a compressible active polar fluid. The nonlinear evolution of the interface instability and the emerging complex patterns depend, however, on the specific form of the chosen model. This is demonstrated with a survey of possible dynamical evolutions in different models.

Keywords: Pattern formation; Coarsening dynamics; Interface instabilities; Non-reciprocal interactions; Active matter