Phase Coexistence Implications of Violating Newton's Third Law

Newton's third law, actio = reactio, is a foundational statement of classical mechanics. However, in natural and living systems, this law appears to be routinely violated as a result of the nonequilibrium environment. Here, we use computer simulations to explore the macroscopic phase behavior implications of breaking microscopic interaction reciprocity for a simple model system. We consider a binary mixture of attractive particles and introduce a parameter which is a continuous measure of the degree to which interaction reciprocity is broken. In the reciprocal limit, the species are indistinguishable and phase separate into domains with identical compositions. Increasing nonreciprocity is found to drive the system to explore a rich assortment of phases, including phases with strong compositional asymmetry and three-phase coexistence. Many of the states induced by these forces, including traveling states of crystal-fluid and liquid-gas coexistence, have no equilibrium analog. By mapping the complete phase diagram for this model system and characterizing these unique phases, our findings offer a concrete path forward towards understanding how nonreciprocity shapes the structures found in living systems and how they might be leveraged in synthetic materials.