Data-driven quantitative modeling of bacterial active nematics
Résumé
Significance Active nematics are nonequilibrium fluids consisting of elongated units driven at the individual scale. They spontaneously exhibit complex spatiotemporal dynamics and have attracted the attention of scientists from many disciplines. Here, we introduce an experimental system (made of filamentous bacteria) and a type of microscopic model for active nematics. Simultaneous measurements of orientation and velocity fields yield comprehensive experimental data that can be used to identify optimal values for all important parameters in the model. At these optimal parameters, the model quantitatively reproduces all experimentally measured features. This, in turn, reveals key processes governing active nematics. Our versatile approach successfully combines quantitative experiments and data-driven modeling; it can be used to study other dense active systems.