Active Curved Polymers form Vortex Patterns on Membranes
  Recent in vitro experiments with FtsZ polymers show self-organization into different dynamic patterns, including structures reminiscent of the bacterial Z-ring. We model FtsZ polymers as active particles moving along chiral, circular paths by Brownian dynamics simulations and a Boltzmann approach. Our two conceptually different methods point to a generic phase behavior. At intermediate particle densities, we find self-organization into vortex structures including closed rings. Moreover, we show that the dynamics at the onset of pattern formation is described by a generalized complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. 
Jonas Denk, Lorenz Huber, Emanuel Reithmann, Erwin Frey
cond-mat.soft cond-mat.stat-mech nlin.PS