Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38748571›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2024

Design rules for controlling active topological defects.

Suraj Shankar, Luca V D Scharrer, Mark J Bowick, M Cristina Marchetti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Topological signatures of collective dynamics and turbulent-like energy cascades in apolar active granular matter.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  6. Active nematic pumps.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  7. Synthetic Active Liquid Crystals Powered by Acoustic Waves.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Suraj Shankar *Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.ORCID 0000-0002-4615-975X
Luca V D Scharrer *Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.
Mark J BowickDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.ORCID 0000-0003-1716-2754
M Cristina MarchettiDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.ORCID 0000-0003-3583-4999

Funding

NSF | MPS | Division of Materials Research (DMR) DMR-2041459NSF | MPS | Division of Physics (PHY) PHY-1748958
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors, and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous particles that spontaneously propel from internal active stresses and drive chaotic flows stirring the fluid. The intimate connection between defect textures and active flow suggests that properties of active materials can be engineered by controlling defects, but design principles for their spatiotemporal control remain elusive. Here, we propose a symmetry-based additive strategy for using elementary activity patterns, as active topological tweezers, to create, move, and braid such defects. By combining theory and simulations, we demonstrate how, at the collective level, spatial activity gradients act like electric fields which, when strong enough, induce an inverted topological polarization of defects, akin to a negative susceptibility dielectric. We harness this feature in a dynamic setting to collectively pattern and transport interacting active defects. Our work establishes an additive framework to sculpt flows and manipulate active defects in both space and time, paving the way to design programmable active and living materials for transport, memory, and logic.

Indexed as

active mattercontrolfluid dynamicsliquid crystalstopological defects

Identifiers

PMID38748571
PMCPMC11127047

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.