Emergent hydrodynamics of chiral active fluids: vortices, bubbles and odd diffusion

Abstract Starting from a microscopic multiparticle Langevin equation, we obtain a hydrodynamic description in terms of density and momentum fields for chiral active particles interacting via standard repulsive and nonlocal odd forces. These odd interactions are reciprocal but non-conservative: they are non-potential forces, as they act perpendicular to the vector joining any pair of particles. As a result, the torques that two particles exert on one another are non-reciprocal. The ensuing macroscopic continuum description consists of a continuity equation for the density and a generalized compressible Navier–Stokes equation for the fluid velocity. The latter includes a chirality-induced torque density term and an odd viscosity contribution. Our theory predicts the emergence of odd diffusivity, edge currents, and is consistent with an inhomogeneous phase—characterized by bubble-like structures—recently observed in simulations. Specifically, the theory exhibits a linear instability arising from the interplay between odd viscosity and torque density, and admits steady-state inhomogeneous solutions featuring bubbles and vortices, in qualitative agreement with numerical simulations. Our findings can be tested experimentally in systems of granular spinners or rotating microorganisms suspended in a fluid.