2016/03/02 by John Toner, Hartmut Löwen, H. H. Wensink +1 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Active matter #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Anisotropy #Anomalous diffusion #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Diffusion #Displacement (psychology) #Geometry #Isotropy #Lattice (music) #Liquid crystal #Mean squared displacement #Micro and Nano Robotics #Molecular dynamics #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Optics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Scaling #Transverse plane #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.93.062610
published as Phys. Rev. E 93, 062610 (2016) · 12 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2016/03/02 · openalex publication_date 2016/06/16 · arxiv updated 2016/06/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Active (i.e., self-propelled or swimming) particles moving through an isotropic fluid exhibit conventional diffusive behavior. We report anomalous diffusion of an active particle moving in an anisotropic nematic background. While the translational motion parallel to the nematic director shows ballistic behavior, the long-time transverse motion is superdiffusive, with an anomalous scaling proportional to tlnt of the mean-square displacement with time t. This behavior is predicted by an analytical theory that we present here and is corroborated by numerical simulation of active particle diffusion in a simple lattice model for a nematic liquid crystal. It is universal for any collection of self-propelled elements (e.g., bacteria or active rods) moving in a nematic background, provided only that the swimmers are sufficiently dilute that their interactions with each other can be neglected and that they do not perform hairpin turns.