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arXiv · 2412.18159

Statistical mechanics of an active wheel rolling in circles

Shubham Sharma·Deepak Kumar
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Abstract

Vibrated granular matter constitutes a useful system for studying the physics of active matter. Usually, self-propulsion is induced in grains through suitable asymmetry in the particle design. In this paper, we show that a symmetrical mini wheel placed on a vibrating plate self-propels along circular trajectories, showing chiral active dynamics. The chiral activity emerges through a sequence of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the particle's kinetics. The fact that isotropy, fore-aft, and chiral symmetries are broken spontaneously leads to distinct statistics, which include a temporal evolution involving stochastic resetting, a non-Gaussian velocity distribution with multiple peaks, broad power-law curvature distribution, and a bounded chirality probability, along with a phase transition from passive achiral to active chiral state as a function of vibration amplitude. Our study establishes the vibrated wheel as a three-state chiral active system that can serve as a model experimental system to study the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and stochastic thermodynamics of chiral active systems and can inspire novel locomotion strategies in robotics.

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Shubham Sharma, Deepak Kumar. 2024-12-24. Statistical mechanics of an active wheel rolling in circles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.18159

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