Steering chiral swimmers along noisy helical paths
Biological Physics
2010-09-28 v1
Abstract
Chemotaxis along helical paths towards a target releasing a chemoattractant is found in sperm cells and many microorganisms. We discuss the stochastic differential geometry of the noisy helical swimming path of a chiral swimmer. A chiral swimmer equipped with a simple feedback system can navigate in a concentration gradient of chemoattractant. We derive an effective equation for the alignment of helical paths with a concentration gradient which is related to the alignment of a dipole in an external field. We discuss the chemotaxis index in the presence of fluctuations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0903.0930,
title = {Steering chiral swimmers along noisy helical paths},
author = {Benjamin M. Friedrich and Frank Jülicher},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0903.0930},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
8 pages, 1 figure