Glassy Dynamics in Active Matter

Abstract

There has been much interest in the glassy dynamics of living systems at the scales of subcellular structures, cells and tissues. This has motivated theoretical studies on the approach to glassy behaviour in dense systems driven by activity, opening up new questions, both in the physics of glass transitions and in active matter. A key issue is whether active glasses are akin to passive ones with an effective temperature or whether they are fundamentally different. In this thesis we address some of these issues using a variety of simulation and analytical techniques.