Pseudo-chemotaxis of active Brownian particles competing for food

Abstract

Using Brownian dynamics simulations, the motion of active Brownian particles (ABPs) in the presence of fuel (or 'food') sources is studied. It is an established fact that within confined stationary systems, the activity of ABPs generates density profiles that are enhanced in regions of low activity, which is generally referred to as 'anti-chemotaxis'. We demonstrate that -- contrary to common believes -- in non-stationary setups, emerging here as a result of short fuel bursts, our model ABPs do instead exhibit signatures of chemotactic behavior. In direct competition with inactive, but otherwise identical Brownian particles (BPs), the ABPs are shown to fetch a larger amount of food. From a biological perspective, the ability to turn active would, despite of the absence of sensoric devices, encompass an evolutionary advantage.

arXiv comment6 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Chemotaxis of cargo-carrying self-propelled particles
• Dynamics of active particles with space-dependent swim velocity
• Active Colloidal Molecules in Activity Gradients
• Transport of molecules via polymerization in chemical gradients
• Controlling Solvent Quality by Time: Self-Avoiding Sprints in Nonequilibrium Polymerization