Seminar by dr. Naomi Oppenheimer (Tel Aviv University, Israel): 'Structural states and conservation laws in biologically inspired active flows' (Lecture)

In this talk, I will describe two biologically inspired systems that can be explained using the same geometrical Hamiltonian formalism. The first is ATP synthase proteins which rotate in a biological membrane. The second is swimming micro-organisms such as bacteria or algae confined to a 2D film. In both cases, the active systems self-assemble into distinct structural states - the rotating proteins rearrange into a hexagonal lattice, whereas the micro-swimmers evolve into sharp lines with a particular tilt. While the two systems differ both on the microscopic, local interaction, as well as the emerging, global structure, their dynamics originate from similar geometrical conservation laws dictated by a Hamiltonian formalism applicable to a broad class of fluid flows.