Collective dynamics and elasto-chemical cluster waves in communicating colloids with explicit size response

Abstract: Chemical communication, response, and feedback are key requirements for the function of adaptive materials with life-like properties. However, how communication on the single cell-level impacts the collective structural, dynamical and mechanical behavior of active soft matter is not well understood. Here, we report how communication controls the spatiotemporal structure and phase behavior of active, hydrogel-based colloidal liquids using Brownian particle-based simulations with explicit resolution of the chemical signaling waves as well as the individual particle's elastic response to communication and crowding. We find a rich topology of nonequilibrium active phases, vastly tuneable by the signaling magnitude, in particular, active melting, synchronization transitions from uncorrelated to antiphase oscillatory liquids, or to in-phase oscillations with accompanying elasto-chemical cluster waves. Our work employs minimal physical principles required for communication-mediated dynamics of microscopic, fluctuating systems, thus uncovering universal aspects in signaling soft systems.