Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 100602 (2008) [4 pages]Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in the Sedimentation of Reproducing ParticlesReceived 5 February 2008; revised 29 May 2008; published 5 September 2008 We study numerically and analytically the dynamics of a sedimenting suspension of active, reproducing particles, such as growing bacteria in a gravitational field. In steady state we find a nonequilibrium phase transition between a “sedimentation” regime, analogous to the sedimentation equilibrium of passive colloids, and a “uniform” regime, in which the particle density is constant in all but the top and bottom of the sample. We discuss the importance of fluctuations in particle density in locating the phase-transition point, and report the kinetics of sedimentation at early times. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.100602
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.100602
PACS:
05.70.Fh, 87.18.Hf
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