Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 44: Poster: Active Matter, Soft Matter, and Fluids

DY 44.4: Poster

Mittwoch, 11. März 2026, 15:00–18:00, P5

Environmental Control of Self-Aligning Chiral Bristlebots — •Timo Wagner, Thomas Ihle, and Horst-Holger Boltz — University Greifswald, Institute for Physics, Greifswald

The subject of our work is the interplay of two very topical aspects of active matter systems, self-alignment and chirality, with complex environments. Chirality refers to a handedness of the dynamics manifesting itself in circular trajectories and self-alignment is a specific realization of physical memory in which the direction of the actual velocity and that of the self-propulsion are not identical, but are coupled. We present experimental results of an implementation of self-aligning chiral dynamics by custom augmentation of commercial toy bristlebots (Hexbugs) and extend the accessible parameter range by inferring a numerical model capable of reproducing the observable data. In particular, we study the control of edge currents (cf. Caprini et al, arXiv:2509.05053) by chiral environments. Additionally, we show that this simple system is sufficient to observe mode-switching between collectively moving and arrested states in active solids (cf. Hernandez-Lopez et al, PRL 132, 238303 (2024)).

Keywords: Active Matter; Hexbugs; Experiment; Self-Alignment; Edge Currents