English

Inertial self-propelled particles

Statistical Mechanics 2021-02-03 v1

Abstract

We study a self-propelled particle moving in a solvent with the active Ornstein Uhlenbeck dynamics in the underdamped regime to evaluate the influence of the inertia. We focus on the properties of potential-free and harmonically confined underdamped active particles, studying how the single-particle trajectories modify for different values of the drag coefficient. In both cases, we solve the dynamics in terms of correlation matrices and steady-state probability distribution functions revealing the explicit correlations between velocity and active force. We also evaluate the influence of the inertia on the time-dependent properties of the system, discussing the mean square displacement and the time-correlations of particle positions and velocities. Particular attention is devoted to the study of the Virial active pressure unveiling the role of the inertia on this observable.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2009.14032,
  title  = {Inertial self-propelled particles},
  author = {Lorenzo Caprini and Umberto Marini Bettolo Marconi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.14032},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T18:52:48.271Z