Orderly hysteresis in field-driven robot swarm active matter

Boundary effect and time-reversal symmetry are hot topics in active matter. We present a biology-inspired robot-environment-interaction active matter system with the field-drive motion and the rules of resource search, resource consumption, and resource recovery. In an environmental compression-expansion cycle, the swarm emerges a series of boundary-dependent phase transitions, and the whole evolution process is time-reversal symmetry-breaking; we call this phenomenon orderly hysteresis. We present the influence of the environmental recovery rate on the dynamic collective behavior of the swarm.

Automated summary

Boundary effect and time-reversal symmetry are investigated in an active matter system consisting of biology-inspired robot-environment interaction. The system exhibits field-driven motion and follows rules of resource search, consumption, and recovery. A series of boundary-dependent phase transitions and time-reversal symmetry-breaking evolution, termed orderly hysteresis, are observed in an environmental compression-expansion cycle. The influence of environmental recovery rate on the swarm's dynamic collective behavior is analyzed.