Active swimmers in a spherical volume

In this work we investigate the behaviour of active nematic particles confined within a spherical volume by performing molecular dynamics simulations. We find out that the particles’ behaviour relates to previous experimental and theoetical results by other groups in similar systems: We observe the phase separation found in a curvature-free system combined with phenomena found on spherical surfaces and in spherical volumes. It is interesting to see that the results in a three-dimensional system with curvature can to a large extent be derived from these single effects. Another remarkable aspect is that we do not find a significant influence of the degree of curvature. Filling fraction and Péclet number are the parameters decisive for the system’s state.