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Active emulsions : soft matter far from thermal equilibrium
A number of experiments are presented dealing with ’active’ emulsions,
i.e., collections of droplets the ingredients of which are not in thermal
equilibrium. As a consequence, they exhibit unusual collective behaviour,
which may resemble dynamic patterns they are sometimes observed in cell
cultures, or swarming as in schools of fish. Our main goal is to find
generalized descriptions of these phenomena, which may allow to predict
collective behaviour far from equilibrium on the basis of some limited
knowledge about the sub-systems and their interactions.