Nonlinear dynamics of active particles

Dr Rahil Valani provides an introduction to active matter (a field focusing on active particles' nonlinear dynamical behaviors) exploring the active system of superwalking droplets that can exhibit hydrodynamic quantum analogs. Active particles are non-equilibrium entities that consume energy from their environment and convert it into directed motion. They can be living organisms such as cells, bacteria, animals and birds, or inanimate entities such as colloidal particles or robots. A large collection of active particles, known as active matter, exhibits emergent collective phenomena such as bird flocks, mammalian herds, bacterial colonies and swarming robots. In this talk, I will provide an introduction to active particles and active matter -- a rapidly growing field of physics, focusing on the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of such particles. We will explore in particular the active system of superwalking droplets that can exhibit hydrodynamic quantum analogs.