{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T11:04:01Z","timestamp":1790766241510,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790726400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":2,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021856","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["53D23004200006 (CUP)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["53D23004200006 (CUP)"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021856","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Standard quorum-sensing models in active matter exhibit collective phenomena such as motility-induced phase separation. Here, we show that incorporating competing sensing ranges\u2014a minimal ingredient inspired by microbial communication\u2014qualitatively changes this behavior, replacing macroscopic phase separation with self-organized microphases characterized by an emergent finite length scale. Starting from the microscopic dynamics, we derive a coarse-grained field theory whose coefficients are explicitly related to the moments of the microscopic sensing function. This mapping enables a direct comparison between particle-based simulations and continuum theory, allowing the characteristic modulation and correlation lengths to be predicted directly from the microscopic interaction parameters. Two-dimensional numerical simulations confirm these predictions and reveal a transition from macrophase separation to finite-wavelength density modulations as the competition between sensing scales increases. For stronger competing interactions, the system develops a peculiar cluster phase with an interstitial percolating network, which is captured by a higher-order gradient expansion. Our results identify competing quorum-sensing interactions as a simple microscopic mechanism for generating tunable active microphases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0353835","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T10:36:01Z","timestamp":1790764561000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Microphase separation in quorum-sensing active particles with competing sensing scales"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"165","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-6619-3676","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michele","family":"Antonioli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg 1 , Esch-sur-Alzette L-1511,","place":["Luxembourg"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0872-6821","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicoletta","family":"Gnan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISC-CNR, Institute for Complex Systems 2 , Piazzale A. 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