Hyperuniformity and density fluctuations at a rigidity transition in a model of biological tissues

• Published in: Soft matter Vol. 16; no. 25; pp. 5942 - 595
• Main Authors: Zheng, Yuanjian, Li, Yan-Wei, Ciamarra, Massimo Pica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Critical point; Crossovers; Density; Elasticity; Fluctuations; Models, Biological; Phase Transition; Rigidity; Structure factor; Tissues
• ISSN: 1744-683X; 1744-6848; 1744-6848
• DOI: 10.1039/d0sm00776e

The suppression of density fluctuations at different length scales is the hallmark of hyperuniformity. Here, we explore the presence of this hidden order in a manybody interacting model of biological tissue, known to exhibit a transition, or sharp crossover, from a solid to a fluid like phase. We show that the density fluctuations in the rigid phase are only suppressed up to a finite lengthscale. This length scale monotonically increases and grows rapidly as we approach the fluid phase reminiscent to divergent behavior at a critical point, such that the system is effectively hyperuniform in the fluid phase. Furthermore, complementary behavior of the structure factor across the critical point also indicates that hyperuniformity found in the fluid phase is stealthy. Density fluctuations are suppressed up to a length scale which diverges at the putative solid-liquid transition.