Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 41: Poster: Nonlinear Dynamics, Granular Matter, and Machine Learning
DY 41.11: Poster
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 15:00–18:00, P5
Competing instabilities in electroferrofluids via non-variationally coupled Swift-Hohenberg equations — •Emil Stråka1, Max Phillip Holl1, Maria Sammalkorpi1, and Mikko Haataja2 — 1Aalto University, Finland — 2Princeton University, USA
Recent experiments in charged ferrofluids, so called electroferrofluids, have shown that they can exhibit Rosensweig-like patterns with non-equilibrium activity [1]. The observed activity rises from the competition of an magnetic and electric field induced instabilities. In this work, we study the phenomenon via two non-reciprocally coupled Swift-Hohenberg equations analytically and numerically [1,2]. In addition to the propagating patterns predicted by theory, the model equations reveal a wide range of dynamics, including irregular, active motions [2].
Our findings demonstrate how competing instabilities in a simplified model system can generate new, nontrivial pattern dynamics. These results suggest that similar active dynamics may arise broadly in complex fluids with competing instability mechanisms.
[1] Rigoni, C., Holl, M. P., Scacchi, A., Stråka, E., Sohrabi, F., Haataja, M. P., Sammalkorpi, M., & Timonen, J. V. I. (2025). Active Rosensweig Patterns. arXiv:2510.09099. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09099
[2] Stråka, E., Holl, M. P., Sammalkorpi, M. & Haataja, M. P., under preparation (2025). Competing instabilities in complex fluids via Swift-Hohenberg equations with non-variational coupling.
Keywords: Pattern formation; Nonreciprocal interaction; Nonconserved dynamics