TY - JOUR A1 - Straube, Arthur A1 - Pagès, Josep M. A1 - Tierno, Pietro A1 - Ignés-Mullol, Jordi A1 - Sagués, Francesc T1 - Collective dynamics and conformal ordering in electrophoretically driven nematic colloids T2 - Phys. Rev. Research N2 - We present a theoretical framework to understand the collective dynamics of an ensemble of electrophoretically driven colloidal particles that are forced to assemble around a single topological defect in a nematic liquid crystal by an alternating current electric field. Our generic model combines phoretic propulsion with electrostatic interactions and liquid-crystal-mediated hydrodynamics, which are effectively cast into a long-range interparticle repulsion, while nematic elasticity plays a subdominant role. Simulations based on this model fully capture the collective organization process observed in the experiments and other striking effects as the emergence of conformal ordering and a nearly frequency-independent repulsive interaction above 10Hz. Our results demonstrate the importance of hydrodynamic interactions on the assembly of driven microscale matter in anisotropic media. Y1 - 2019 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-zib/frontdoor/index/index/docId/7688 VL - 1 SP - 022008 ER -