Tunable colloidal swarmalators with hydrodynamic coupling.

ABSTRACT: Swarmalators - entities that combine swarming with synchronization - offer a powerful framework for understanding systems where spatial organization and internal degrees of freedom are bidirectionally coupled. Such interplay arises in diverse natural and engineered systems, from Japanese tree frogs and magnetic domain walls to robotic swarms. In contrast to an established theoretical framework, experimental realizations with tunable coupling between motion and phase remain elusive. Here, we present a controllable swarmalator system based on feedback-controlled self-propelling colloidal particles orbiting around reference points and interacting via hydrodynamic flows. We show that synchronization and spatial dynamics co-evolve, giving rise to collective states including synchronized cluster

SUBMITTER: Heuthe VL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12690114 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature