Inertial dynamics of an active Brownian particle

Abstract

Active Brownian motion commonly assumes spherical overdamped particles. However, self-propelled particles are often neither symmetric nor overdamped yet underlie random fluctuations from their surroundings. Active Brownian motion has already been generalized to include asymmetric particles. Separately, recent findings have shown the importance of inertial effects for particles of macroscopic size or in low-friction environments. We aim to consolidate the previous findings into the general description of a self-propelled asymmetric particle with inertia. We derive the Langevin equation of such a particle as well as the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation. Furthermore, a formula is presented that allows reconstructing the hydrodynamic resistance matrix of the particle by measuring its trajectory. Numerical solutions of the Langevin equation show that, independently of the particle's shape, the noise-free trajectory at zero temperature starts with an inertial transition phase and converges to a circular helix. We discuss this universal convergence with respect to the helical motion that many microorganisms exhibit.

18 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (8)

• The hydrodynamics of swimming microorganisms
• State-dependent diffusion: thermodynamic consistency and its path integral formulation
• Activity-induced phase separation and self-assembly in mixtures of active and passive particles
• Inertial effects of self-propelled particles: from active Brownian to active Langevin motion
• Can the self-propulsion of anisotropic microswimmers be described by using forces and torques?
• Time-dependent inertia of self-propelled particles: the Langevin rocket
• Jerky active matter: a phase field crystal model with translational and orientational memory
• Reply to Comment on "Circular Motion of Asymmetric Self-Propelling Particles"