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Scattering of biflagellate microswimmers from surfaces

Enkeleida Lushi, Vasily Kantsler, and Raymond E. Goldstein
Phys. Rev. E 96, 023102 – Published 10 August 2017
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Abstract

We use a three-bead–spring model to investigate the dynamics of biflagellate microswimmers near a surface. While the primary dynamics and scattering are governed by geometric-dependent direct contact, the fluid flows generated by the swimmer locomotion are important in orienting it toward or away from the surface. Flagellar noise and in particular cell spinning about the main axis help a surface-trapped swimmer escape, whereas the time a swimmer spends at the surface depends on the incident angle. The dynamics results from a nuanced interplay of direct collisions, hydrodynamics, noise, and the swimmer geometry. We show that to correctly capture the dynamics of a biflagellate swimmer, minimal models need to resolve the shape asymmetry.

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  • Received 8 August 2016
  • Revised 19 July 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.023102

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Fluid DynamicsPhysics of Living Systems

Authors & Affiliations

Enkeleida Lushi1,*, Vasily Kantsler2,†, and Raymond E. Goldstein3,‡

  • 1Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York 10003, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom

  • *lushi@cims.nyu.edu
  • V.Kantsler@warwick.ac.uk
  • R.E.Goldstein@damtp.cam.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 2 — August 2017

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