Collective motion of Particles exhibiting Dual modes of

dynamics : Active-interacting and passive -non-interacting

phase ::
 Dynamical behavior emergent in a group of active self propelled
particles -depending on nearest neighbor coordination falls under the
umbrella term - collective motion.

 Pervasive in biological systems – throughout length scales such as

microscopic ,mesoscopic and macroscopic ones – collective motion is
often the key player to understand non-trivial large scale correlations
and prominent deviations in the passive transport properties.

Schooling of fish Flocking of Starling

Morphogenetic cell dynamics Swarming of heterogenous bacteria

Few examples of Collective motion throughout Nature

(references of the pictures mentioned later)
 Motivation: Why study this problem?
• Targeted drug delivery in complex heterogenous environments;
activation of electronic circuits in microrobots.
C.K. Schmidt et al
Engineering microrobots for targeted cancer therapies from a
medical perspective
Nat Com,2020

• Cost effective way of synthesizing microbots –allowing them to

locally communicate and achieve highly complicated nuanced
functions.
• Quantitative features of Collective motion of cells on epithelial
sheet during early phase of wound healing has been successfully
captured by a stochastic interactive particle model.
Sepulveda et al ;
Collective cell motion in an epithelial sheet can be quantitatively
Described by a Stochastic Interacting Particle Model
Plos Comp Biology,2013

• Run and Tumble motion in bacteria like E. Coli has found

Importance in forging foraging and search strategies.

• In a cohort of cells exhibiting collective motion , as in a tumour,

switching the roles of active energy consuming leader cells has
been speculated as a cost efficient strategy as more energy is
required to
create paths while navigating though the ECM.
Rachel Lee et al
Distinct roles of tumor associated mutations in collective cell
migration
Nature ,2021

Experimentally , it has been observed that Zebra fish( Caenorhabditis elegans)

larvae and fruit fly (Drosophila) larvae exhibit characteristic movement patterns
with a set of distinct stereotypical underlying “modes” woven into their
dynamical signatures. The two modes, henceforth termed active and passive ,
follow idiosyncratic dynamical equations of motion.
Since incessant processing of social cues( non-stop collection of the information
of nearest neighbour dynamics) is an exaggeration, in reality the motion of an
individual unit of a coordinating system follows –
1. Passive mode : Dynamics governed by inertia,
friction and stochasticity :
n
d v⃑ i
m = −Ɣ ⃑ i ⃑i ∑ ( ⃑
v + ƺ + F ij ) eqn of motion of ith particle
dt j=1

d Ɵi
ƞi
dt =

2. Active mode : Additional Sensory term incorporated in the particle’s motion :

Spatiotemporal receptive field model of
social and sensory processing.
n n
d ⃑v i α
m
dt
= −Ɣ ⃑v i + a
n
∑ ( ⃑v j ¿−⃑v i ) ¿ + α p (v 0−|⃑v i|) n^i + ⃑ƺ i + ∑ (⃑F ij)
j=1 j=1

where Ɣ isthe dissipation of medium, ⃑ƺ i isthe translational noise , ⃗

Fij is soft
interparticle repulsive force (⃗ ^ij(2a-r ij ) when |r ij|<2a ) , ƞi is the rotational diffusion in
F ij = kr
α n
velocity orientation; a ∑ ( ⃑v j ¿−⃑v i ) ¿ and α p (v 0−|⃑v i|) n^i are the alignment and propulsion
n j=1
forces respectively. The last two terms are essentially part of only the active state of motion.

The important question now is how much time an individual particle spends in each of the
states- for that , we introduce a two state dichotomous Markov process , and introduce two
rates K off (for active ¿ passive)and K on ( for passive to active switching) . Successive
transitions are uncorrelated- hence the process is Markovian , and in the long run, when the
stationary state sets in , the fraction of particles amongst the entire population experiencing
K on
active(passive) state at any instant of time is completely determined by the ratio (
K on+ K off
K off
). The probability distribution of the particles in active/passive mode is evidently
K on+ K off
Gaussian-
 Parameters :Ɣ /m =0.1, α a=1; α p=1, ,r=0.01,R=1.0,k=1 ⟨ ƺ
⃑ i ( t ) ⃑ƺ j ( t ) ⟩=δ ij δ ( t−t )
' '
Results : width=0.

⟨ ƞi ( t ) ƞ j ( t' ) ⟩ =δ ij δ ( t−t' ) width=1.0

K off here signifies normalised active ¿ passive switching rate
K off '
=
K on ' + K off '

The scenario that manifests through these simulations clearly shows a decrease

⟨ ⟩
N
1 ⃗
vi
in global orientational order parameter ⟨ Φ ⟩ = ∑
N i=1 |⃗
v i|
with the increase in

the normalised active to passive switching rate( enhanced tumbling frequency) ,

keeping all other parameters fixed .

We sweep through the entire active to passive switching rate , keeping the
orientational diffusivity fixed . Below a critical value of the aforementioned
rate, spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry is observed. To further
 characterise this crossover/transition, we calculate the second order moment

❑
(variance, that is Χ= ⟨ ❑❑ ⟩ - ⟨ ⟩ of the order parameter, which shows a
sharp peak at a critical K off .

We calculate the fourth order cumulant ,the Binder Parameter for two different
System size( keeping density fixed) and the intersection of the two curves
reaffirms the critical value of the activepassive switching rate . Further
meticulous investigation is required to consolidate the phase transition regime.

The next step is to extract the phase transition curves for different values of
Rotational diffusivity ( as mentioned in the figure above). As expected , high
values of ƞrotational shifts the critical point towards the left ( along K off axis ¿
For low values of ƞrotational , global orientational ordering persists in the system
for normalised K off values as high as 0.6 to 0.7.
Calculating the 2nd order moments reaffirm the critical K off shifting with ƞrotational

Root mean squared displacement for different K off

As we turn our attention to the transport properties , calculating the long

time root squared displacement reveals a clear departure from diffusive regime
when K off is low , while with high passivity , good old random walk signatures
become prominent. Fitting the simulated curves with the general analytical

expression for RMSD – √ ⟨ r (t)⟩ = D

2
α
α
t , we find α for different K off

K off =0.3, α=0.64 K off =0.5, α=0.58

 K off =0.7, α=0.507 K off =0.7, α=0.502

To quantify efficiency , especially in collective robotic swarms with high

passivity in the system, the root mean squared displacement might turn out
to be a key player.

Orientational Autocorrelation in time

1
N
v .⃗
⃗ v0
A(t) = N ∑ (¿ ⃗ t i i
)¿
i=1 v | t ||⃗
i
v 0|
i

This should lend us a measure of how long the effect of initial velocity orientation
persists in the memory of the system.

Interestingly for both highly active and highly passive ( K off =0.0 & K off =1.0) systems
the autocorrelation is fast decaying , for active phase – due to high correlations
with neighbouring particle velocities, and for the passive phase- due to high
rotational diffusivity. Now using the same definition of autocorrelation , we
study this once stationarity has reached( autocorrelation depends only on the
difference between two times concerned i.e. the lag) .
 The autocorrelation decays extremely slowly in the stationary state of the
active phase. Similarly , studying the spatial correlation at both transient

1
N
1
n
⃗
v .⃗v
and stationary regimes, C(r) =
N
∑ n ∑ (|⃗v i||⃗v j|¿ ¿)¿ ¿
i=1 j=1 i j

t=10 (transient) t=100 (stationary regime)

Evolution of spatial correlation for K off =0.3 and K off =0.5

References ::
 Cavagna et al : Scale free correlations in Starling Flocks; PNAS,2010
 Peled et al : Heterogenous Bacterial swarming of mixed length; PRE ,2021
 Montel et al: Morphogenetic cell movements: Diversity from Modular Mechanical
Properties.
 CK. Schmidt et al: Engineering microrobots for targeted cancer therapies from
a medical perspective; Nat Com,2020
 Rachel Lee et al : Distinct roles of tumor associated mutations in collective cell
migration : Nature ,2021
 Vicsek et al: Novel types of phase transitions in a system of Self-Driven Particles;
PRL,1995.
 Scholz et al: Inertial delay of self propelled particles; Nat com,2018
 Marcetti et al: How many dissenters does it take to disorder a flock?; NJP,2018
 Peruani et al: Self propelled particles with Fluctuating Speed and Direction
Of motion in two dimensions,PRL,2007