Related papers: Memory-induced transition from a persistent random…
We simulate an experiment in which a colloidal probe is pulled through an active nematic fluid. We find that the drag on the particle is non-Stokesian (not proportional to its radius). Strikingly, a large enough particle in contractile…
Swimming cells and microorganisms must often move though complex fluids that contain an immersed microstructure such as polymer molecules, or filaments. In many important biological processes, such as mammalian reproduction and bacterial…
We investigate experimentally the single-particle motion in water of silica colloidal beads half-coated with carbon under the action of a converging laser beam. The beads are self-propelled in this medium by means of self-thermophoresis…
Microswimmer suspensions in Newtonian fluids exhibit unusual macroscale properties, such as a superfluidic behavior, which can be harnessed to perform work at microscopic scales. Since most biological fluids are non-Newtonian, here we study…
We carry out two-dimensional Brownian dynamics simulations of the behavior of rigid inclusion particles immersed in an active fluid bath. The active fluid is modeled as a collection of self-propelled circular disks interacting via a soft…
Micron-size self-propelling particles are often proposed as synthetic models for biological microswimmers, yet they lack internally regulated adaptation, which is central to the autonomy of their biological counterparts. Conversely,…
We study the dynamics of a circular passive inclusion, termed a torquer, in a bath of chiral active Brownian particles. Despite being geometrically symmetric and non-motile, the torquer exhibits persistent rotation due to spatially…
Microswimmers are often found in heterogeneous and crowded environments within narrow conduits under external flow conditions, enabling them to perform interesting translational and rotational maneuvers, such as swimming in the upstream…
Thermally activated transitions are ubiquitous in nature, occurring in complex environments which are typically conceived as ideal viscous fluids. We report the first direct observations of a Brownian bead transiting between the wells of a…
Microscopic artificial swimmers have recently become highly attractive due to their promising potential for biomedical applications. The pioneering work of Dreyfus et al (2005) has demonstrated the motion of a microswimmer with an…
Miniaturized, self-propelled locomotors use chemo-mechanical transduction mechanisms to convert fuel in the environment to autonomous motion. Recent experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that these autonomous engines can…
We investigate the swim pressure exerted by non-chiral and chiral active particles on convex or concave circular boundaries. Active particles are modeled as non-interacting and non-aligning self-propelled Brownian particles. The convex and…
Measurements of protein motion in living cells and membranes consistently report transient anomalous diffusion (subdiffusion) which converges back to a Brownian motion with reduced diffusion coefficient at long times, after the anomalous…
Brownian motion near soft surfaces is a situation widely encountered in nanoscale and biological physics. However, a complete theoretical description is lacking to date. Here, we theoretically investigate the dynamics of a two-dimensional…
We study numerically the role of hydrodynamics in the liquid-hexatic transition of active colloids at intermediate activity, where motility induced phase separation (MIPS) does not occur. We show that in the case of active Brownian…
Active particles (i.e., self-propelled particles or called microswimmers), different from passive Brownian particles, possess more complicated translational and angular dynamics, which can generate a series of anomalous transport phenomena.…
We introduce numerical methods for simulating the diffusive motion of rigid bodies of arbitrary shape immersed in a viscous fluid. We parameterize the orientation of the bodies using normalized quaternions, which are numerically robust,…
It is well known that the reversibility of Stokes flow makes it difficult for small microorganisms to swim. Inertial effects break this reversibility, allowing new mechanisms of propulsion and feeding. Therefore it is important to…
Swimming micro-organisms such as flagellated bacteria and sperm cells have fascinating locomotion capabilities. Inspired by their natural motion, there is an ongoing effort to develop artificial robotic nano-swimmers for potential in-body…
Most synthetic microswimmers do not reach the autonomy of their biological counterparts in terms of energy supply and diversity of motion. Here we report the first all-aqueous droplet swimmer powered by self-generated polyelectrolyte…