Dynamics of self-propelled particles under strong confinement

2014/01/01 by Yaouen Fily, Aparna Baskaran, Michael F. Hagan · 233 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Boundary (topology) #Control and Dynamics of Mobile Robots #Curvature #Distribution (mathematics) #Distribution function #Dynamics (music) #Exponential function #Function (biology) #Micro and Nano Robotics #Probability density function #Trajectory #cond-mat.soft #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation

paper · pdf · doi:10.1039/c4sm00975d

published in Soft Matter 10(30), 5609-5617 (Royal Society of Chemistry) · 6 pages, 5 figures

openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · arxiv created 2014/02/23 · arxiv updated 2014/08/05 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We develop a statistical theory for the dynamics of non-aligning, non-interacting self-propelled particles confined in a convex box in two dimensions. We find that when the size of the box is small compared to the persistence length of a particle's trajectory (strong confinement), the steady-state density is zero in the bulk and proportional to the local curvature on the boundary. Conversely, the theory may be used to construct the box shape that yields any desired density distribution on the boundary, thus offering a general tool to understand and design such confinements. When the curvature variations are small, we also predict the distribution of orientations at the boundary and the exponential decay of pressure as a function of box size recently observed in simulations in a spherical box.

Citations

• Athermal Phase Separation of Self-Propelled Particles with No Alignment
• Statistical Mechanics of Interacting Run-and-Tumble Bacteria
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• Self-Starting Micromotors in a Bacterial Bath
• Microscopic theory for the phase separation of self-propelled repulsive disks
• Active nematics on a substrate: Giant number fluctuations and long-time tails
• Run-and-Tumble Particles with Hydrodynamics: Sedimentation, Trapping, and Upstream Swimming
• Sedimentation, trapping, and rectification of dilute bacteria
• Continuum Theory of Phase Separation Kinetics for Active Brownian Particles
• A Wall of Funnels Concentrates Swimming Bacteria
• A kinetic model and scaling properties of non-equilibrium clustering of self-propelled particles

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