How To Capture Active Particles
Condensed Matter journal club
How To Capture Active Particles
- Event time: 11:30am
- Event date: 15th February 2013
- Speaker: Joakim Stenhammar (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
- Location: Room 2511, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Abstract
In many applications, it is important to catch collections of autonomously navigating microbes and man-made microswimmers in a controlled way. Using computer simulation of a two-dimensional system of self-propelled rods we show that a static chevron-shaped wall represents an excellent trapping device for self-motile particles. Its catching efficiency can be controlled by varying the apex angle of the trap which defines the sharpness of the cusp. Upon decreasing the angle we find a sequence of three emergent states: no trapping at wide angles followed by a sharp transition towards complete trapping at medium angles and a crossover to partial trapping at small cusp angles. A generic trapping "phase diagram" maps out the conditions at which the capture of active particles at a given density is rendered optimal.PRL 108 article 268307 (2012)
pdf version
Authors
A. Kaiser, H. H. Wensink, H. Löwen
About Condensed Matter journal club
Given the diversity of research in the CM group, chosen topics vary widely. We tend to stick to high-impact journals - Nature, Science, PNAS and PRL have been popular - but this is not prescriptive..