Accumulation of Microswimmers near a Surface Mediated by Collision and Rotational Brownian Motion

Condensed Matter journal club

Accumulation of Microswimmers near a Surface Mediated by Collision and Rotational Brownian Motion

  • Event time: 11:30am
  • Event date: 19th March 2010
  • Speaker: Laurence Wilson (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
  • Location: Room 2511,

Event details

Abstract

In this Letter we propose a kinematic model to explain how collisions with a surface and rotational Brownian motion give rise to accumulation of microswimmers near a surface. In this model, an elongated microswimmer invariably travels parallel to the surface after hitting it from an oblique angle. It then swims away from the surface, facilitated by rotational Brownian motion. Simulations based on this model reproduce the density distributions measured for the small bacteria E. coli and Caulobacter crescentus, as well as for the much larger bull spermatozoa swimming between two walls.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 078101 (2009)

Authors

G. Li and J.X. Tang

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