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Related papers: Metachronal coordination at the mesoscale

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Recent experiments have shown that the nematode {\it T. aceti} can assemble into collectively undulating groups at the edge of fluid drops. This coordinated state consists of metachronal waves and drives fluid circulation inside the drop.…

The physical mechanism behind the spontaneous formation of metachronal waves in microtubule arrays in a low Reynolds number fluid has been of interest for the past several years, yet is still not well understood. We present a model…

Subcellular Processes · Quantitative Biology 2019-11-06 Stephen E Martin , Matthew E Brunner , Joshua M Deutsch

We study synchronization of an array of rotors on a substrate that are coupled by hydrodynamic interaction. The rotors that are modeled by an effective rigid body, are driven by an internal torque and exerts an active force on the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2010-04-29 Nariya Uchida , Ramin Golestanian

Motile cilia are slender, hair-like cellular appendages that spontaneously oscillate under the action of internal molecular motors and are typically found in dense arrays. These active filaments coordinate their beating to generate…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-01-28 Brato Chakrabarti , Sebastian Fürthauer , Michael J. Shelley

A system of ferromagnetic particles trapped at a liquid-liquid interface and subjected to a set of magnetic fields (magnetocapillary swimmers) is studied numerically using a hybrid method combining the pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann…

We employ a model system, called rowers, as a generic physical framework to define the problem of the coordinated motion of cilia (the metachronal wave) as a far from equilibrium process. Rowers are active (two-state) oscillators…

Biological Physics · Physics 2013-05-29 M. Cosentino Lagomarsino , P. Jona , B. Bassetti

Synchronization of actively oscillating organelles such as cilia and flagella facilitates self-propulsion of cells and pumping fluid in low Reynolds number environments. To understand the key mechanism behind synchronization induced by…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-05-20 Nariya Uchida , Ramin Golestanian

Marine exploration is essential to understanding ocean processes and organisms. While the use of current unmanned underwater vehicles has enabled many discoveries, there are still plenty of limitations toward exploring complex environments.…

When swimming at low Reynolds numbers, inertial effects are negligible and reciprocal movements cannot induce net motion. Instead, symmetry breaking is necessary to achieve net propulsion. Directed swimming can be supported by magnetic…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-03-31 Theo Lequy , Andreas M. Menzel

Machines are designed, assembled, and programmed to convert power into predetermined dynamics and functions. In contrast, living systems such as interacting cells and animal groups self-organize, synchronize, and perform complex tasks…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-04-09 Romane Braun , Alexis Poncet , Alexandre Morin , Denis Bartolo

Synthetic microswimmers mimicking biological movements at the microscale have been developed in recent years. Actuating helical magnetic materials with a homogeneous rotating magnetic field is one of the most widespread techniques for…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-03-27 Felix Bachmann Klaas Bente , Agnese Codutti , Damien Faivre

We investigate synchronization and metachronal-wave formation in a one-dimensional array of eukaryotic flagella using an elastohydrodynamic model. In contrast to a two-flagellum system, where only in-phase synchronization is stable, larger…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2026-05-19 Yukinori Wakahara , Nariya Uchida

Microorganisms develop coordinated beating patterns on surfaces lined with cilia known as metachronal waves. For a chain of cilia attached to a flat ciliate, it has been shown that hydrodynamic interactions alone can lead the system to…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2016-03-23 Babak Nasouri , Gwynn J. Elfring

Large groups of active cilia collectively beat in a fluid medium as metachronal waves, essential for some microorganisms motility and for flow generation in mucociliary clearance. Several models can predict the emergence of metachronal…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-05-08 Supravat Dey , Gladys Massiera , Estelle Pitard

An artificial microswimmer drifts in response to spatio-temporal modulations of an activating suspension medium. We consider two competing mechanisms capable of influencing its tactic response: angular fluctuations, which help it explore…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-02-15 Alexander Geiseler , Peter Hänggi , Fabio Marchesoni

Microscale fluid flows generated by ensembles of beating eukaryotic flagella are crucial to fundamental processes such as development, motility and sensing. Despite significant experimental and theoretical progress, the underlying physical…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-03-11 Douglas R. Brumley , Kirsty Y. Wan , Marco Polin , Raymond E. Goldstein

In nature, many unicellular organisms are able to swim with the help of beating filaments, where local energy input leads to cooperative undulatory beating motion. Here, we investigate by employing reinforcement learning how undulatory…

Biological Physics · Physics 2025-11-04 Fumiya Tokoro , Hideki Takayama , Shinji Deguchi , Andreas Zöttl , Daiki Matsunaga

We study two microswimmers consisting of a spherical rigid head and a passive elastic tail. In the first one the tail is clamped to the head, and the system oscillates under the action of an external torque. In the second one, head and tail…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2017-02-02 Giancarlo Cicconofri , Antonio DeSimone

A minimal design for a molecular swimmer is proposed that is a based on a mechanochemical propulsion mechanism. Conformational changes are induced by electrostatic actuation when specific parts of the molecule temporarily acquire net…

Biological Physics · Physics 2015-05-19 Ramin Golestanian

Cilia and flagella in biological systems often show large scale cooperative behaviors such as the synchronization of their beats in "metachronal waves". These are beautiful examples of emergent dynamics in biology, and are essential for…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-04-20 Nicolas Bruot , Pietro Cicuta