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, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
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
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..