Exact mean-field phase diagram for self-avoiding active particles in a lattice

Abstract

We investigate motility-induced phase separation in a lattice gas of self-propelled particles with hard-core exclusion, where an internal director biases particle hopping along the lattice coordination directions while undergoing rotational diffusion, together with a thermal-like translational diffusion. Rather than employing stochastic simulations, we adopt a master-equation formalism within a general mean-field approximation. By linearizing the mean-field master equation around the homogeneous stationary state and applying Bloch's theorem, the stability analysis is reduced to a $z$-dimensional tight-binding eigenvalue problem. A perturbation expansion in the wavenumber near $\vk = 0$ then yields the spinodal surface in closed analytical form for six Bravais lattices: linear, square, hexagonal, simple cubic, body-centered cubic, and face-centered cubic. The influence of lattice geometry is shown to enter exclusively through a single coefficient $\mathcal{A}$ which we evaluate exactly for each case. We further show that translational diffusion smooths the interface between the dense and dilute phases. Finally, we determine the rotational probability currents associated with the inhomogeneous stationary states, a distinctive signature of the broken detailed balance underlying active-system dynamics.