Hydrodynamics can Determine the Optimal Route for Microswimmer Navigation

Abstract

Contrasting the well explored problem on how to steer a macroscopic agent like an airplane or a moon lander to optimally reach a target, "optimal microswimming", i.e. the quest for the optimal navigation strategy for microswimmers, remains unsolved. Here, we systematically explore this problem and show that the characteristic flow field of microswimmers crucially influences the required navigation strategy to reach a target fastest. The resulting optimal trajectories can have remarkable and non-intuitive shapes, which qualitatively differ from those of dry active particles or motile macroagents. Our results provide generic insights into the role of hydrodynamics and fluctuations on optimal navigation at the microscale and suggest that microorganisms might have survival advantages when strategically controlling their distance to remote walls. In particular, when fluctuations are present, choosing the optimal strategy, which appropriately respects hydrdynamics, can halve the time to reach the target compared to cases microswimmers head straight towards it.

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