Active phase separation: A universal approach.

Abstract

We identify active phase separation as a generic demixing phenomenon in nonequilibrium systems with conservation constraints. Examples range from cell polarization to cell populations communicating via chemotaxis, and from self-propelled particle communities to mussels in ecology. We show that system-spanning properties of active phase separation in nonequilibrium systems near onset are described by the classical Cahn-Hilliard (CH) model. This result is rather surprising since the CH equation is famous as a model for phase separation at thermal equilibrium. We introduce a general reduction scheme to establish a unique mathematical link between the generic CH equation and system-specific models for active phase separation. This approach is exemplarily applied to a model for polarization of cells and a model for chemotactic cell communities. For cell polarization, we also estimate the validity range of the CH model.