Nonexistence of motility induced phase separation transition in one dimension

Abstract

We introduce and study a model of hardcore particles obeying run-and-tumble dynamics on a one-dimensional lattice, where particles run in either ++ve or -−ve xx-direction with an effective speed vv and tumble (change their direction of motion) with a constant rate \omegaω when assisted by another particle from right. We show that the coarse-grained dynamics of the system can be mapped to a beads-in-urn model called misanthrope process where particles are identified as urns and vacancies as beads that hop to a neighbouring urn situated in the direction opposite to the current. The hop rate is same as the magnitude of the particle current; we calculate it analytically for a two-particle system and show that it does not satisfy the criteria required for a phase separation transition. Nonexistence of phase separation in this model, where tumbling dynamics is rather restricted, necessarily imply that motility induced phase separation transition can not occur in other models in one dimension with unconditional tumbling.