Universality for Moving Stripes: A Hydrodynamic Theory of Polar Active Smectics

Abstract

We present a theory of moving stripes ("polar active smectics"), both with and without number conservation. The latter is described by a compact anisotropic Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, which implies smectic order is quasilong ranged in d=2 and long ranged in d=3. In d=2 the smectic disorders via a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, which can be driven by either increasing the noise or varying certain nonlinearities. For the number-conserving case, giant number fluctuations are greatly suppressed by the smectic order, which is long ranged in d=3. Nonlinear effects become important in d=2.