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Ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order in bacterial vortex lattices

dc.creatorWioland, Hugo
dc.creatorWoodhouse, Francis Gordon
dc.creatorDunkel, Jörn
dc.creatorGoldstein, Raymond Ethan
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-13
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-24T23:18:55Z
dc.date.available2016-05-24T12:10:45Z
dc.date.available2018-11-24T23:18:55Z
dc.date.issued2016-01-04
dc.identifierhttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/256076
dc.identifier.urihttp://repository.aust.edu.ng/xmlui/handle/123456789/3367
dc.description.abstractDespite their inherently non-equilibrium nature [1] , living systems can self-organize in highly ordered collective states [2,3] that share striking similarities with the thermodynamic equilibrium phases [4,5] of conventional condensed-matter and fluid systems. Examples range from the liquid-crystal-like arrangements of bacterial colonies [6,7], microbial suspensions [8,9] and tissues [10] to the coherent macro-scale dynamics in schools of fish [11] and flocks of birds [12]. Yet, the generic mathematical principles that govern the emergence of structure in such artificial [13] and biological [6–9,14] systems are elusive. It is not clear when, or even whether, well-established theoretical concepts describing universal thermostatistics of equilibrium systems can capture and classify ordered states of living matter. Here, we connect these two previously disparate regimes: through microfluidic experiments and mathematical modelling, we demonstrate that lattices of hydrodynamically coupled bacterial vortices can spontaneously organize into distinct patterns characterized by ferro- and antiferromagnetic order. The coupling between adjacent vortices can be controlled by tuning the inter-cavity gap widths. The emergence of opposing order regimes is tightly linked to the existence of geometry-induced edge currents [15,16], reminiscent of those in quantum systems [17–19]. Our experimental observations can be rationalized in terms of a generic lattice field theory, suggesting that bacterial spin networks belong to the same universality class as a wide range of equilibrium systems.
dc.languageen
dc.publisherNature Publishing Group
dc.publisherNature Physics
dc.subjectbiological physics
dc.subjectcellular motility
dc.titleFerromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order in bacterial vortex lattices
dc.typeArticle


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