Swimmer-microrheology
Soft Condensed Matter
2017-03-30 v2
Abstract
We discuss a locomotion of a three-sphere microswimmer in a viscoelastic medium and propose a new type of active microrheology. We derive a relation which connects average swimming velocity and frequency-dependent viscosity of the surrounding medium. In this relation, the viscous contribution can exist only when the time-reversal symmetry is broken, whereas the elastic contribution is present only when the structural symmetry of the swimmer is broken. The Purcell's scallop theorem breaks down for a three-sphere swimmer in a viscoelastic medium.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1701.01224,
title = {Swimmer-microrheology},
author = {Kento Yasuda and Ryuichi Okamoto and Shigeyuki Komura},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.01224},
year = {2017}
}