Instabilities and chaos in a kinetic equation for active nematics

We study dry active nematics at the kinetic equation level, stressing the differences with the well-known Doi theory for non-active rods near thermal equilibrium. By deriving hydrodynamic equations from the kinetic equation, we show analytically that these two description levels share the same qualitative phase diagram, as defined by the linear instability limits of spatially-homogeneous solutions. In particular, we show that the ordered, homogeneous state is unstable in a region bordering the linear onset of nematic order, and is only linearly stable deeper in the ordered phase. Direct simulations of the kinetic equation reveal that its solutions are chaotic in the region of linear instability of the ordered homogeneous state. The local mechanisms for this large-scale chaos are discussed.