  Pressure is the mechanical force per unit area that a confined system exerts
on its container. In thermal equilibrium, it depends only on bulk properties
(density, temperature, etc.) through an equation of state. Here we show that in
a wide class of active systems the pressure depends on the precise interactions
between the active particles and the confining walls. In general, therefore,
active fluids have no equation of state, their mechanical pressures exhibit
anomalous properties that defy the familiar thermodynamic reasoning that holds
in equilibrium. The pressure remains a function of state, however, in some
specific and well-studied active models that tacitly restrict the character of
the particle-wall and/or particle-particle interactions.
