2026/07/25 by Raphaël Maire, Ignacio Pagonabarraga · 1 citation
#cond-mat.stat-mech #cond-mat.soft #physics.flu-dyn
We study the chiral dynamics of an intruder immersed in a nonequilibrium bath in two complementary limits: the dilute kinetic regime and the dense hydrodynamic regime. In the dilute limit, starting from a Boltzmann-Lorentz description, we derive an effective Langevin equation whose coefficients are given explicitly by geometry-dependent boundary integrals. This formulation separates the effects of intruder-shape chirality from those of chiral intruder-bath interactions. We find that the chiral interactions generate an odd response and a torque, whereas the chirality of the intruder leads to a ratchet effect. We also show that fluctuation-dissipation-like relations exist and that certain symmetry-allowed couplings vanish in the dilute regime. In the dense regime, we argue that intruder dynamics are governed primarily by bath hydrodynamics and torque-density-driven edge currents not captured by the previous framework. These currents can generate both an antisymmetric drag and a curvature-induced torque, leading to an antisymmetric response when inertia is accounted for. Taken together, these results provide a step toward understanding the mechanisms governing the chiral dynamics of an intruder in a nonequilibrium bath across different scales.