Tuesday, April 23, 2024
15:00 - 16:00
I will describe two biologically inspired systems that can be analyzed using the same hydrodynamic Hamiltonian formalism. The first is ATP synthase proteins, which rotate in a biological membrane. The second is swimming micro-organisms such as bacteria or algae confined to a two-dimensional film. I will show that in both cases, the active systems self-assemble into distinct structural states – the rotating proteins rearrange into a hexagonal lattice, whereas the micro-swimmers evolve into a zig-zag configuration with a particular tilt. While the two systems differ both on the microscopic, local interaction, as well as the emerging, global structure, their dynamics originate from similar geometrical conservation laws applicable to a broad class of fluid flows. I will then show experiments and simulations in which the Hamiltonian is perturbed, leading to different and surprising steady-state configurations.
Computational Soft Matter
UvA - Faculty of Science
B1.25
Group Seminar
biophysics, computational physics
Dr Naomi Oppenheimer, Tel Aviv University