Elastohydrodynamic synchronization of rotating bacterial flagella
arXiv:2203.15762 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.208101
Abstract
To rotate continuously without jamming, the flagellar filaments of bacteria need to be locked in phase. While several models have been proposed for eukaryotic flagella, the synchronization of bacterial flagella is less well understood. Starting from a reduced model of flexible and hydrodynamically-coupled bacterial flagella, we rigorously coarse-grain the equations of motion using the method of multiple scales, and hence show that bacterial flagella generically synchronize to zero phase difference via an elastohydrodynamic mechanism. Remarkably, the far-field rate of synchronization is maximized at an intermediate value of elastic compliance, with surprising implications for bacteria.
18 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/f3071Yc1T031a78775a87695a0e87c6e9330aa8c8