# A continuum theory of phase separation kinetics for active Brownian particles

Source: [A continuum theory of phase separation kinetics for active Brownian particles](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa2cb21e209131ce852310>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T15:30:04.780Z

Authors: Joakim Stenhammar, Adriano Tiribocchi, Rosalind J. Allen, Davide Marenduzzo, Michael E. Cates

Published: 2013-07-16T18:43:48.000Z

## Abstract

Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse-graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically compared to large-scale direct simulations of ABPs and accurately accounts for domain growth kinetics, domain topologies and coexistence densities.

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## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1307.4373>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1307.4373.pdf>)