Field-Particle Interactions in Curved Flows for Shape-Asymmetric Active Particles
Soft Condensed Matter
2025-12-16 v1 Biological Physics
Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
We show that curvatures in general ambient flow profiles can align shape-asymmetric active particles, revealing a previously overlooked competition with externally applied aligning fields. Focusing on the ubiquitous case of channel flows, we then investigate the fundamental consequences of this competition for the dynamics of shape-asymmetric active particles in microchannels in the presence of orienting fields. We find that this interplay gives rise to novel mechanisms for controlling particle dynamics, with potentially broad applications, and suggests exciting possibilities such as active-particle analogs of electronic systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.12426,
title = {Field-Particle Interactions in Curved Flows for Shape-Asymmetric Active Particles},
author = {Derek C. Gomes and Tapan C. Adhyapak},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.12426},
year = {2025}
}