Transport Coefficients in Dense Active Brownian Particle Systems: Mode-Coupling Theory and Simulation Results

Abstract: We discuss recent advances in developing a mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) of two-dimensional systems of active Brownian particles (ABP). We specifically discuss the case of a single ABP tracer in a glass-forming passive host suspension; a case that has recently been studied in experiments on colloidal Janus particles. We employ event-driven Brownian dynamics (ED-BD) computer simulations to test the ABP-MCT, and find good agreement between the two for the MSD. The ED-BD simulation results also compare well to experimental data, although a peculiar non-monotonic mapping of self-propulsion velocities is required. The ABP-MCT predicts a specific self-propulsion dependence of the Stokes-Einstein relation between the long-time diffusion coefficient and the host-system viscosity that matches well the results from simulation. An application of ABP-MCT within the integration-through transients (ITT) framework to calculate the density-renormalized effective swim velocity of the interacting ABP agrees qualitatively with the ED-BD simulation data at densities close to the glass transition, and quantitatively for the full density range only after the mapping of packing fractions employed for the passive system.