Wet to dry crossover and a flow vortex-lattice in active nematics

Active systems, from bacterial suspensions to vibrated granular matter, are continuously driven out of equilibrium by local injection of energy from their constituent elements. The energy input leads to exotic behaviour such as collective motion, pattern formation, topological defects and active turbulence, but theories that link the different manifestations of activity across systems and length scales are lacking. Here we unify two different classes of active matter by using friction as a control parameter to interpolate between wet active systems, whose behaviour is dominated by hydrodynamics, and dry active matter where any flow is screened. At the wet-dry crossover, we find a novel lattice of flow vortices interleaved with an ordered network of topological defects which arises from the competition between friction and viscous dissipation. Our results contribute to understanding the physics of matter operating out-of-equilibrium, with its potential in the design of active micro- and nano-machines.