The European Physical Journal E最新文献

{"title":"Perspective on “Active Brownian particles moving in a random Lorentz gas”","authors":"C. Reichhardt,&nbsp;C. J. O. Reichhardt","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00572-0","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00572-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Self-propelled active matter can exhibit vastly different behavior than systems with purely Brownian motion. In Eur. Phys. J. E <b>40</b>, 23 (2017), Zeitz, Wolf, and Stark compared an active matter particle with a Brownian particle moving in a random obstacle array. They showed that near the obstacle percolation density, both Brownian and active particles exhibit the same subdiffusive behavior, but the active particle reaches a steady state more rapidly. They also found that for high activity, the active particle has a lower effective diffusion than the Brownian particle due to the increased self-trapping effect generated by the activity. This result opens new directions for the study of active matter in disordered media, including bacteria in porous media, active colloids on quenched disorder, and active particles in crowded environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00572-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147589104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamical networking of polymer networks with dedicated cross-linker particles","authors":"Nadine du Toit,&nbsp;Kristian K. Müller-Nedebock,&nbsp;Giuseppe Pellicane","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00568-w","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00568-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper extends a field-theoretical dynamical networking formalism for mesoscopic polymer dynamics to explicitly include dedicated cross-linker particles. Cross-linkers are represented within a Martin–Siggia–Rose generating functional and reversibly coupled to polymers through Gaussian networking fields, enabling an approximation scheme that reduces their degrees of freedom while remaining compatible with polymer dynamics. The framework is applied to a two-species polymer system in which intra- and inter-species cross-linking are assigned different statistical advantages. Effective networking potentials are derived and used to calculate correlation functions and dynamic structure factors. To validate these results, molecular dynamics simulations of semi-flexible polymers with reversible intra- and inter-species cross-linking are performed. Simulations show that cross-linking decreases polymer persistence lengths and local alignment, and the resulting trajectories yield dynamic structure factors consistent with theoretical predictions. Qualitative comparison reveals that in both approaches, cross-linking broadens the diffusive peaks and enhances the high-frequency tails of the structure factors. Together, theory and simulation provide complementary insights into the dynamics of cross-linked polymers, establishing a tractable framework that captures essential features observed in experiments and offering a basis for exploring more complex synthetic and biological networks.</p><p>Schematic diagram of the dynamical networking model, in which cross-linkers are modelled as particles that form reversible bonds between polymer segments, alongside a snapshot from complementary molecular dynamics simulations showing the resulting network structure.</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00568-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147589129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of doublets on self-organization and viscoelasticity of model repulsive 2D binary colloids","authors":"Abdelkerim Hassan Hamid,&nbsp;Lydiane Bécu,&nbsp;David Gonzalez-Rodriguez,&nbsp;Hong Xu","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00575-x","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00575-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We study a two-dimensional binary mixture with different interaction strengths serving as a simplified model inspired by experimental colloidal systems. The investigations are carried out by molecular dynamics simulations focusing on self-organization, dynamics, and viscoelasticity. The reference system is composed of spherical colloidal particles interacting with a short-ranged repulsive version of the Lennard–Jones pair potential, the Weeks–Chandler–Andersen (WCA) potential, with the interaction strength <span>(epsilon _{11})</span>; the second component, referred to as “doublets,” interacts via the same potential, but with the interaction strength <span>(epsilon _{22}=4epsilon _{11})</span>, while the cross-species interaction has the strength <span>(epsilon _{12}=2epsilon _{11})</span>. We focus on the effect of doublets on system properties. To accurately compute the dynamic moduli, we fit the shear-stress autocorrelation function (SACF) to a double Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts (KWW) stretched (or compressed) exponential function, which provides a satisfactory approximation for both the fluid and solid phases. We perform simulations at fixed pressure, varying the fraction of doublets and the temperature. We observe that the doublets increase the melting temperature, diminish the diffusion of the reference species, and strongly affect the viscoelastic properties. Our results, arising from the competition between stronger pair interactions and the reduced density due to the presence of doublets, can be (partly) interpreted by effective hard disk diameters and associated effective packing fractions. These findings provide clear signatures that may be qualitatively compared to experiments with colloidal suspensions.</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147525191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural and dynamic characterisation of charged microemulsions grafted with telechelic polymers at high dilution","authors":"R. Elhajjam,&nbsp;M. Khatouri,&nbsp;R. Ahfir,&nbsp;L. Talha,&nbsp;Z. Basbassi,&nbsp;A. Arbia,&nbsp;S. El Khaoui,&nbsp;M. Filali","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00570-2","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00570-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Microemulsions are widely studied model colloidal systems due to their well-defined structure and tunable interactions. In this work, we investigate the structural and dynamic properties of a mixed system composed of microemulsion droplets grafted with a steric telechelic polymer, polyethylene oxide–C<span>(_{12})</span>H<span>(_{25})</span> (PEO-m), at a low volume fraction (<span>(phi = 2%)</span>). The microemulsions studied are direct (oil-in-water) microemulsions, stabilised by cetylpyridinium chloride (CpCl) as the surfactant and octanol as the co-surfactant. The interaction potential of this system is modelled using the Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) framework, which combines a hard sphere potential, a van der Waals potential, and a Coulomb potential. Three complementary approaches are employed: small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments, Ornstein–Zernike integral equations with the hypernetted chain (HNC) closure, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. SANS results show that the microemulsion droplets exhibit a spherical shape with an average radius <span>(R_textrm{m} = 61 text{AA })</span> and a polydispersity <span>(Delta R = 8 text{AA })</span> and that this morphology remains unchanged as long as the number of grafted polymers does not exceed <span>(N_textrm{p} le 20)</span>. However, for <span>(N_textrm{p} &gt; 20)</span>, both the average radius and the polydispersity decrease to <span>(R_textrm{m} = 49.5 text{AA })</span> and <span>(Delta R = 7.1 text{AA })</span>. These results also indicate that the addition of PEO-m strengthens the repulsive interactions between droplets, thereby confirming that this polymer effectively stabilises the microemulsions. The Ornstein–Zernike integral equation with the HNC closure is used to determine the parameters of the potential describing the interactions between droplets. These parameters are subsequently introduced into MD simulations to assess the dynamic properties of the system. The results show that the addition of PEO-m reduces droplet mobility, while the diffusion behaviour remains normal.</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147479458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spreading and absorption of silicone oil droplets on silicone elastomer films","authors":"Lauren Dutcher,&nbsp;Benjamin Baylis,&nbsp;John R. Dutcher,&nbsp;Élie Raphaël,&nbsp;Kari Dalnoki-Veress","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00556-0","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00556-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>When a liquid droplet completely wets a hard substrate, its spreading dynamics follow Tanner’s law, with the droplet radius growing as the one-tenth power of time. Here, we investigate how these dynamics change when silicone oil droplets spread on soft silicone elastomer and gel films supported by a rigid silicon substrate. While the droplets fully wet the elastomer surface, they also simultaneously swell the elastomer film. By varying the film thickness, we observe deviations from the classical power-law scaling, which we interpret in terms of changes to the effective stiffness and the absorption potential of the system. We describe the spreading behavior using a phenomenological model that accounts for both absorption and mechanical contributions..</p><p>Droplet spreading on a soft substrate</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12999746/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147479456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decoding soil properties from surface cracks using Minkowski functionals, junction crack angle distributions, and AI-based image analysis","authors":"Emanual Daimari,&nbsp;Puppala Sai Ratna,&nbsp;P. V. S. S. R. Chandra Mouli,&nbsp;V. Madhurima","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00567-x","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00567-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Desiccation cracks depend on the type of soil, with each type exhibiting a distinct pattern. In this study, we examined the evolution of the crack patterns in different soil types as well as with changes within the same soil type. Physico-chemical studies of the sub-classes of soils, one taken from a flooding left bank and the other from a non-flooding right bank, were nearly identical. However, desiccation crack experiments, analysed using morphological descriptors including Minkowski functionals and junction crack angle distribution, exhibited distinct patterns and descriptors, indicating these to be good fingerprints of soil types and sub-types. To refine this analysis, the image dataset from the experiments was used to train convolutional neural network algorithms. 60% data were used for training, and 100% prediction accuracy was achieved in both major and sub-major classification. The results of this study shows the versatility of the study of desiccation crack pattern studies and how coupling it with deep learning leads to accurate identification of the soil types, with applications in agricultural soil assessment, planetary terrain studies, geotechnical engineering, floodplain and river-basin monitoring, and image-based soil classification. </p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147441715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Endophytic fungi of Aegle marmelos as a source of novel antibacterials and anti-SARS-CoV agents","authors":"Soniya Goyal,&nbsp;Poonam Bansal,&nbsp;Pardeep Kumar,&nbsp;Dinesh Kumar,&nbsp;Gunjan Sharma,&nbsp;Ashish Sharma,&nbsp;Bhupesh Gupta,&nbsp;Mahiti Gupta,&nbsp;Raman Kumar,&nbsp;Ahmad Umar,&nbsp;Tubia Almas,&nbsp;Sotirios Baskoutas","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00565-z","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00565-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Drug resistance in microorganisms is a growing global threat, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic agents. This study evaluates the antibacterial and anti-SARS-CoV potential of fungal endophytes isolated from <i>A. marmelos</i>. Among 16 endophytes screened, the ethyl acetate extract of the #3 AMLBF strain (<i>Fusarium vanettenii</i>) exhibited the strongest antibacterial activity against several pathogens. This extract showed minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 0.49 to 0.8 µg/ml. GC/MS analysis of the active extract identified 45 compounds. Furthermore, molecular docking against the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein revealed nine potential ligands, with Anthraergosta-5,7,9,22-tetren-3-ol <i>p</i>-chlorobenzoate showing the most potent binding affinity (− 10.2 kcal/mol), a value exceeding that of the standard chloroquine (− 6.5 kcal/mol). These results indicate that the organic extract from this fungal strain is a promising candidate for the discovery of new antimicrobial agents.</p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div><div><p>Potential of endophytic fungi</p></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00565-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147430178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radiation-entropy generation by leaf and negentropy build-up of plant as dissipative structure","authors":"Shripad P. Mahulikar,&nbsp;Pallavi Rastogi,&nbsp;Aitor Erkoreka","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00555-1","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00555-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Photosynthesis is a simple reaction for any plant, but it has not been achieved artificially due to the difficulty in radiation entropy production by processing PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). In this study, a plant is shown to be a self-organising dissipative structure; since, it’s leaf generates radiation entropy for the existence of plant with possible growth. Entropy-energy ratio (<i>s</i>_E) of PAR released after processing (<i>s</i>_E,rel) much exceeds <i>s</i>_E of light absorbed, <i>s</i>_E,in (&lt; &lt; <i>s</i>_E,rel). Plant builds its negentropy <span>(left| {s_{{{text{neg}},{text{rad}}}} } right|)</span> by the difference, <span>(s_{{text{E,rel}}} - s_{{text{E,in}}})</span> , but only a part of this difference can be the source of free energy as plant-growth. The remaining part of <span>(left| {s_{{{text{neg}},{text{rad}}}} } right|)</span> is dissipated as the excess payment of negentropy debt, towards mandatory 2nd Law compliance. Change from low <i>s</i>_E,in to high <i>s</i>_E,rel by the plant-leaf is amplified by a huge factor, <i>c</i>², while determining <span>(left| {s_{{{text{neg}},{text{rad}}}} } right|)</span>; where, <i>c</i> is the speed of light. Therefore, even a small increase in <i>s</i>_E,rel and small reduction in <i>s</i>_E,in can significantly increase <span>(left| {s_{{{text{neg}},{text{rad}}}} } right|)</span>. Thermodynamic performance of photosynthesis depends on the processing level of PAR, <span>(Pi_{{{text{E}},{text{leaf}}}} = left( {{{s_{{{text{E}},{text{rel}}}} } mathord{left/ {vphantom {{s_{{{text{E}},{text{rel}}}} } {s_{{{text{E}},{text{in}}}} }}} right. kern-0pt} {s_{{{text{E}},{text{in}}}} }}} right))</span>, <span>(left| {s_{{{text{neg}},{text{rad}}}} } right|)</span>, and is limited by the maximum photosynthetic efficiency in PAR, <span>({upeta }_{{{text{ph}},{text{PAR}}_{text{max}}}})</span> (it increases with <span>(Pi_{{{text{E}},{text{leaf}}}})</span>).</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><img></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00555-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147430148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Free-interface convective mixing in porous media: 2D and 3D numerical simulations","authors":"Happiness Imuetinyan,&nbsp;Stefano Musacchio,&nbsp;Fabrizio Croccolo,&nbsp;Guido Boffetta","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00566-y","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00566-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigate convective mixing in porous media in the presence of a free interface separating two miscible fluids initially arranged in a stable configuration. This problem is motivated by the dynamics of supercritical <span>(hbox {CO}_{2})</span> overlying a brine-saturated porous medium, as well as analogous laboratory experiments. Diffusion of the lighter upper layer into the denser lower layer results in a layer with a density greater than that of the denser lower layer, which then induces an unstable stratification that triggers convection. Using high-resolution direct numerical simulations, we analyse the system dynamics in both two- and three-dimensional geometries and for different diffusivities. Our results show that in 2D the process is faster, with dissolution fluxes about <span>(15%)</span> higher than in 3D. Convective plumes deform the initially flat interface, creating an iso-concentration surface whose vertical extent increases over time. These findings highlight the need for caution when extrapolating two-dimensional results to three-dimensional applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147324306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of MHD rayleigh–taylor instability in a walter’s B fluid with thermal and mass diffusion effects","authors":"Km Priya Bharti,&nbsp;Mukesh Kumar Awasthi,&nbsp;Atul Kumar Shukla,&nbsp;Gopal Datt","doi":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00563-1","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00563-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>An analytical and numerical investigation of Rayleigh<b>–</b>Taylor instability has been carried out within a planner configuration under the influence of a vertically imposed magnetic field, through viscous potential flow theory. The instability is examined for the configuration in which a Walter’s B viscoelastic fluid overlies a Newtonian viscous fluid embedded in a porous medium, with simultaneous heat and mass transfer permitted across the interface. The dispersion relation between perturbation growth rate and wave number is established via normal mode analysis. This relation is investigated using the Newton<b>–</b>Raphson method, which facilitates the identification of the influence of various non-dimensional physical parameters, determining whether they suppress or amplify the perturbation growth. The study reveals that a vertically oriented magnetic field and an increased porosity of the medium enhance the amplification of perturbations, while an increased thermal flux across the interface counteracts this tendency, thereby diminishing the growth of instability.</p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div><div><p>Rayleigh–Taylor instability is analyzed for a Walters’ B viscoelastic fluid overlying a Newtonian viscous fluid in a porous medium under a vertically imposed magnetic field with simultaneous heat and mass transfer. A dispersion relation is derived using viscous potential flow theory and solved numerically via the Newton–Raphson method. Results show that magnetic field strength and medium porosity enhance perturbation growth, whereas increased thermal flux stabilizes the interface</p></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":790,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal E","volume":"49 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147324278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}