Non-reactive forces and pattern formation induced by a nonequilibrium medium

Abstract

We study the induced interaction between multiple probes locally interacting with driven colloids and trapped in a toroidal geometry. The effective binary forces between the probes break the action-reaction principle and their range decreases with the driving. We demonstrate how in the stationary nonlinear nonequilibrium regime these interactions induce stability of a crystal-like pattern, where the probes are equidistant, when the probe-colloid interaction is either completely attractive or completely repulsive.

11 pages, 2 figures