Stability of chiral colloidal droplets

ORAL

Abstract

We report experiments on a two-dimensional cohesive chiral fluid consisting of millions of spinning colloidal magnets suspended in water. Droplets made of this fluid are observed to swirl around and collapse into a single central superdroplet in a process reminiscent of the accretion of matter during the formation of a black hole. We put forth a minimal but complete hydrodynamic description of this active chiral fluid and use it to analyze the stability of the droplet states.

*National Science Foundation MRSEC Program at The University of Chicago (Grant DMR-1420709) and a Packard Fellowship

Authors

  • Leroy Jia

    • Flatiron Institute
  • Ephraim Bililign

    • University of Chicago
  • Michael Shelley

    • Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation
    • Flatiron Institute \& NYU
    • Flatiron Institute (Simons Foundation) \& Courant Institute (NYU)
    • New York University and Flatiron Institute
  • William Irvine

    • University of Chicago