Chemotaxis of artificial microswimmers in active density waves

Alexander Geiseler, Peter Hänggi, Fabio Marchesoni, Colm Mulhern, and Sergey Savel'ev
Phys. Rev. E 94, 012613 – Published 15 July 2016
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Living microorganisms are capable of a tactic response to external stimuli by swimming toward or away from the stimulus source; they do so by adapting their tactic signal transduction pathways to the environment. Their self-motility thus allows them to swim against a traveling tactic wave, whereas a simple fore-rear asymmetry argument would suggest the opposite. Their biomimetic counterpart, the artificial microswimmers, also propel themselves by harvesting kinetic energy from an active medium, but, in contrast, lack the adaptive capacity. Here we investigate the transport of artificial swimmers subject to traveling active waves and show, by means of analytical and numerical methods, that self-propelled particles can actually diffuse in either direction with respect to the wave, depending on its speed and waveform. Moreover, chiral swimmers, which move along spiraling trajectories, may diffuse preferably in a direction perpendicular to the active wave. Such a variety of tactic responses is explained by the modulation of the swimmer's diffusion inside traveling active pulses.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 11 January 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.012613

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Polymers & Soft MatterStatistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Alexander Geiseler1,*, Peter Hänggi1,2,3, Fabio Marchesoni4,5, Colm Mulhern1, and Sergey Savel'ev6

  • 1Institut für Physik, University of Augsburg, D-86159, Germany
  • 2Nanosystems Initiative Munich, Schellingstraße 4, D-80799 München, Germany
  • 3Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 117551 Singapore, Republic of Singapore
  • 4Center for Phononics and Thermal Energy Science, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China
  • 5Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Camerino, I-62032 Camerino, Italy
  • 6Department of Physics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom

  • *alexander.geiseler@physik.uni-augsburg.de

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 1 — July 2016

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review E

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×