Speaker
Description
Inspired by dense contractile tissues, where cells are subject to periodic deformation, we will formulate a generic hydrodynamic theory of confluent pulsating liquids. Combining mechanical and phenomenological arguments, we will postulate that the mechanochemical feedback between the local phase, which describes how cells deform due to autonomous driving, and the local density can be described in terms of a free energy. We will show that the proposed hydrodynamic theory captures the three main states emerging in its particle-based counterparts: a globally cycling state, a homogeneous arrested state with constant phase, and a state with propagating radial waves. We will show that the competition between these states can be rationalized intuitively in terms of an effective landscape and argue that waves can be regarded as secondary instabilities. Through linear stability analysis of arrested and cycling states, we will predict phase boundaries and then discuss how these are affected by fluctuations. Overall, the results will demonstrate that our minimal, yet non-trivial model can provide a relevant platform to study the rich phenomenology of a wide class of pulsating liquids.
