WP squirmers with $r_c=2.5\sigma$ and (d) $r_c=1.5\sigma$. Note the different scale on the y-axis. ](ntxi1rc15hhganso.pdf "fig:"){width="0.48\columnwidth"}

[ AP squirmers interacting via long-range attractions (panel a) quickly reach a steady state characterized by $\langle s \rangle \approx 2$ except for $\beta=3$ where $\langle s \rangle \approx 10$ (red curve in panel-a). Whereas when dealing with AP squirmers interacting via short-range attractions (panel b), pushers reach a steady state quite quickly with $\langle s \rangle \approx 2$ as well as pullers with $\beta=3$ (with a slightly larger mean cluster size of $\langle s \rangle \approx 2.5$). Interestingly, the mean cluster size for weak pullers (black curve in panel-b) first develops a metastable state at short times ($t \in (10,500) \tau $) and then another one for longer times ($t > 1000 \tau$): the latter due to the formation of dynamic clusters with polar order. Similarly,]{} when $\beta=0$ the decay in $\langle s \rangle $ at long time corresponds to monomers aligning and moving in the same direction.

WP squirmers with $\beta <3$ relatively quickly reach steady-state with clusters with an average of 4 particles (panel-c). [Whereas pullers with $\beta=3$ reach a slightly higher mean cluster size $\langle s \rangle \sim 5 $: 