Hydrodynamic spin-pairing and active polymerization of oppositely spinning rotors

Mattan Gelvan, Artyom Chirko, Jonathan Kirpitch, Yahav Lavie, Noa Israel and Naomi Oppenheimer ()
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Mattan Gelvan: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems
Artyom Chirko: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems
Jonathan Kirpitch: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems
Yahav Lavie: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems
Noa Israel: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems
Naomi Oppenheimer: Tel-Aviv University, Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for the Physics and Chemistry of Living Systems

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Rotors are common in nature — from rotating membrane-proteins to superfluid-vortices. Yet, little is known about the collective dynamics of heterogeneous populations of rotors. Here, we show experimentally, numerically, and analytically that at small but finite inertia, a mixed population of oppositely spinning rotors spontaneously self-assembles into active chains, which we term gyromers. The gyromers are formed and stabilized by fluid motion and steric interactions alone. A detailed analysis of pair interaction shows that rotors with the same spin repel and orbit each other while opposite rotors spin-pair and propagate together as bound dimers. Rotor dimers interact with individual rotors, each other, and the boundaries to form chains. A minimal model predicts the formation of gyromers in numerical simulations and their possible subsequent folding into secondary structures of lattices and rings. This inherently out-of-equilibrium polymerization process holds promise for engineering self-assembled metamaterials such as artificial macroscale proteins.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65322-w

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