Physics of microswimmers--single particle motion and collective behavior: a review

Efficiency of an autonomous, dynamic information engine operating on a single active particle

The Szilard engine stands as a compelling illustration of the intricate interplay between information and thermodynamics. While at thermodynamic equilibrium, the apparent breach of the second law of thermodynamics was reconciled by Landauer and Bennett's insights into memory writing and erasure, recent extensions of these concepts into regimes featuring active fluctuations have unveiled the prospect of exceeding Landauer's bound, capitalizing on information to divert free energy from dissipation towards useful work. To explore this question further, we investigate an autonomous dynamic information engine, addressing the thermodynamic consistency of work extraction and measurement costs by extending the phase space to incorporate an auxiliary system, which plays the role of an explicit measurement device. The nonreciprocal coupling between active particle and measurement device introduces a feedback control loop, and the cost of measurement is quantified through a suitably defined auxiliary entropy production. The study considers different measurement scenarios, highlighting the role of measurement precision in determining engine efficiency.

Collective dynamics of active dumbbells near a circular obstacle

In this article, we present the collective dynamics of active dumbbells in the presence of a static circular obstacle using Brownian dynamics simulation. The active dumbbells aggregate on the surface of a circular obstacle beyond a critical radius. The aggregation is non-uniform along the circumference, and the aggregate size increases with the activity (Pe) and the curvature radius (Ro). The dense aggregate of active dumbbells displays persistent rotational motion with a certain angular speed, which linearly increases with activity. Furthermore, we show a strong polar ordering of the active dumbbells within the aggregate. The polar ordering exhibits long-range correlation, with the correlation length corresponding to the aggregate size. Additionally, we show that the residence time of an active dumbbell on the obstacle surface increases rapidly with area fraction due to many-body interactions that lead to a slowdown of the rotational diffusion. This article further considers the dynamical behavior of a tracer particle in the solution of active dumbbells. Interestingly, the speed of the passive tracer particle displays a crossover from monotonically decreasing to increasing with the size of the tracer particle upon increasing the dumbbells' speed. Furthermore, the effective diffusion of the tracer particle displays non-monotonic behavior with the area fraction; the initial increase in diffusivity is followed by a decrease for a larger area fraction.

Influence of bacterial swimming and hydrodynamics on attachment of phages

Bacteriophages ("phages") are viruses that infect bacteria. Since they do not actively self-propel, phages rely on thermal diffusion to find target cells-but can also be advected by fluid flows, such as those generated by motile bacteria themselves in bulk fluids. How does the flow field generated by a swimming bacterium influence how it encounters phages? Here, we address this question using coupled molecular dynamics and lattice Boltzmann simulations of flagellated bacteria swimming through a bulk fluid containing uniformly-dispersed phages. We find that while swimming increases the rate at which phages attach to both the cell body and flagellar propeller, hydrodynamic interactions strongly suppress this increase at the cell body, but conversely enhance this increase at the flagellar bundle. Our results highlight the pivotal influence of hydrodynamics on the interactions between bacteria and phages, as well as other diffusible species, in microbial environments.

Colloidal bubble propulsion mediated through viscous flows

Bubble-propelled catalytic colloids stand out as a uniquely efficient design for artificial controllable micromachines, but so far lack a general theoretical framework that explains the physics of their propulsion. Here we develop a combined diffusive and hydrodynamic theory of bubble growth near a spherical catalytic colloid, that allows us to explain the underlying mechanism and the influence of environmental and material parameters. We identify two dimensionless groups, related to colloidal activity and the background fluid, that govern a saddle-node bifurcation of the bubble growth dynamics, and calculate the generated flows analytically for both slip and no slip boundary conditions on the bubble. We finish with a discussion of the assumptions and predictions of our model in the context of existing experimental results, and conclude that some of the observed behaviour, notably the ratchet-like gait, may stem from peculiarities of the experimental setup rather than fundamental physics of the propulsive mechanism.

Diffusion of noiseless active particles in a planar convection array

We investigated, both analytically and numerically, the dynamics of a noiseless overdamped active particle in a square lattice of planar counter-rotating convection rolls. Below a first threshold of the self-propulsion speed, a fraction of the simulated particle's trajectories spatially diffuse around the convection rolls, whereas the remaining trajectories remain trapped inside the injection roll. We detected two chaotic diffusion regimes: (i) below a second, higher threshold of the self-propulsion speed, the particle performs a random motion characterized by asymptotic normal diffusion. Long superdiffusive transients were observed for vanishing small self-propulsion speeds. (ii) above that threshold, the particle follows chaotic running trajectories with speed and orientation close to those of the self-propulsion vector at injection and its dynamics is superdiffusive. Chaotic diffusion disappears in the ballistic limit of extremely large self-propulsion speeds.

Ion-Exchange Enabled Dual-Functional Swarms with Reconfigurability and Magnetic Controllability

In nature, many organisms are capable of self-organizing into collective groups through local communications to perform complex tasks that individuals cannot complete. To date, the reported artificial microswarms either rely on toxic chemical reactions for communication or lack the hierarchical controllability and functionality, which is unfavorable for practical applications. To this end, this exploits the ion-exchange reaction enabled hierarchical swarm composed of cationic ion exchange resin and magnetic microspheres of internal information exchange. The swarm is reconfigurable under magnetic fields, generating ordered structures of controllable mobilities and even reversed hierarchy, able to navigate in confined and complex environments. Moreover, the swarm shows interesting communications among each other, such as merging, splitting, and member exchange, forming multi-leader groups, living crystals, and complex vortices. Furthermore, the swarm functions as a dual-functional microreactor, which can load, transport, and release drugs in a pH-enhanced manner, as well as effectively degrade antibiotics via light-enhanced Fenton-like reaction in polluted water. The organized structure of the swarm greatly improves the drug loading/transport efficiency and the local concentration of catalysts for fast pollutant removal. This design lays the foundation for the design of dual-functional micro/nanorobots for intelligent drug delivery and advanced environmental remediation.

Phase separation kinetics and cluster dynamics in two-dimensional active dumbbell systems

Molecular dynamics simulations were employed to investigate the phase separation process of a two-dimensional active Brownian dumbbell model. We evaluated the time dependence of the typical size of the dense component using the scaling properties of the structure factor, along with the averaged number of clusters and their radii of gyration. The growth observed is faster than in active disk models, and this effect is further enhanced under stronger activity. Next, we focused on studying the hexatic order of the clusters. The length associated with the orientational order increases algebraically with time and faster than for spherical active Brownian particles. Under weak active forces, most clusters exhibit a uniform internal orientational order. However, under strong forces, large clusters consist of domains with different orientational orders. We demonstrated that the latter configurations are not stable, and given sufficient time to evolve, they eventually achieve homogeneous configurations as well. No gas bubbles are formed within the clusters, even when there are patches of different hexatic order. Finally, attention was directed towards the geometry and motion of the clusters themselves. By employing a tracking algorithm, we showed that clusters smaller than the typical size at the observation time exhibit regular shapes, while larger ones display fractal characteristics. In between collisions or break-ups, the clusters behave as solid bodies. Their centers of mass undergo circular motion, with radii increasing with the cluster size. The angular velocity of the center of mass equals that of the constituents with respect to their center of mass. These observations were rationalised with a simple mechanical model.

Fluctuation Theorems for Heat Exchanges between Passive and Active Baths

In addition to providing general constraints on probability distributions, fluctuation theorems allow us to infer essential information on the role played by temperature in heat exchange phenomena. In this numerical study, we measure the temperature of an out-of-equilibrium active bath using a fluctuation theorem that relates the fluctuations in the heat exchanged between two baths to their temperatures. Our setup consists of a single particle moving between two wells of a quartic potential accommodating two different baths. The heat exchanged between the two baths is monitored according to two definitions: as the kinetic energy carried by the particle whenever it jumps from one well to the other and as the work performed by the particle on one of the two baths when immersed in it. First, we consider two equilibrium baths at two different temperatures and verify that a fluctuation theorem featuring the baths temperatures holds for both heat definitions. Then, we introduce an additional Gaussian coloured noise in one of the baths, so as to make it effectively an active (out-of-equilibrium) bath. We find that a fluctuation theorem is still satisfied with both heat definitions. Interestingly, in this case the temperature obtained through the fluctuation theorem for the active bath corresponds to the kinetic temperature when considering the first heat definition, while it is larger with the second one. We interpret these results by looking at the particle jump phenomenology.

Multiflagellate Swimming Controlled by Hydrodynamic Interactions

Many eukaryotic microorganisms propelled by multiple flagella can swim very rapidly with distinct gaits. Here, we model a three-dimensional mutiflagellate swimmer, resembling the microalgae. When the flagella are actuated synchronously, the swimming efficiency can be enhanced or reduced by interflagella hydrodynamic interactions (HIs), determined by the intrinsic tilting angle of the flagella. The asynchronous gait with a phase difference between neighboring flagella can reduce oscillatory motion via the basal mechanical coupling. In the presence of a spherical body, simulations taking into account the flagella-body interactions reveal the advantage of anterior configuration compared with posterior configuration, where in the latter case an optimal flagella number arises. Apart from understanding the role of HIs in the multiflagellate microorganisms, this work could also guide laboratory fabrications of novel microswimmers.

Anomalous dynamics of a passive droplet in active turbulence

Motion of a passive deformable object in an active environment serves as a representative of both in-vivo systems such as intracellular particle motion in Acanthamoeba castellanii, or in-vitro systems such as suspension of beads inside dense swarms of Escherichia coli. Theoretical modeling of such systems is challenging due to the requirement of well resolved hydrodynamics which can explore the spatiotemporal correlations around the suspended passive object in the active fluid. We address this critical lack of understanding using coupled hydrodynamic equations for nematic liquid crystals with finite active stress to model the active bath, and a suspended nematic droplet with zero activity. The droplet undergoes deformation fluctuations and its movement shows periods of "runs" and "stays". At relatively low interfacial tension, the droplet begins to break and mix with the outer active bath. We establish that the motion of the droplet is influenced by the interplay of spatial correlations of the flow and the size of the droplet. The mean square displacement shows a transition from ballistic to normal diffusion which depends on the droplet size. We discuss this transition in relation to spatiotemporal scales associated with velocity correlations of the active bath and the droplet.

Excluded volume effects on tangentially driven active ring polymers

The conformational and dynamical properties of active ring polymers are studied by numerical simulations. The two-dimensionally confined polymer is modeled as a closed bead-spring chain, driven by tangential forces, put in contact with a heat bath described by the Brownian multiparticle collision dynamics. Both phantom polymers and chains comprising excluded volume interactions are considered for different bending rigidities. The size and shape are found to be dependent on persistence length, driving force, and bead mutual exclusion. The lack of excluded volume interactions is responsible for a shrinkage of active rings when increasing driving force in the flexible limit, while the presence induces a moderate swelling of chains. The internal dynamics of flexible phantom active rings shows activity-enhanced diffusive behavior at large activity values while, in the case of self-avoiding active chains, it is characterized by active ballistic motion not depending on stiffness. The long-time dynamics of active rings is marked by rotational motion whose period scales as the inverse of the applied tangential force, irrespective of persistence length and beads' self-exclusion.

Hybrid motility mechanism of sperm at viscoelastic-solid interface

To fertilize eggs, sperm must pass through narrow, complex channels filled with viscoelastic fluids in the female reproductive tract. While it is known that the topography of the surfaces plays a role in guiding sperm movement, sperm have been thought of as swimmers, i.e., their motility comes solely from sperm interaction with the surrounding fluid, and therefore, the surfaces have no direct role in the motility mechanism itself. Here, we examined the role of solid surfaces in the movement of sperm in a highly viscoelastic medium. By visualizing the flagellum interaction with surfaces in a microfluidic device, we found that the flagellum stays close to the surface while the kinetic friction between the flagellum and the surface is in the direction of sperm movement, providing thrust. Additionally, the flow field generated by sperm suggests slippage between the viscoelastic fluid and the solid surface, deviating from the no-slip boundary typically used in standard fluid dynamics models. These observations point to hybrid motility mechanisms in sperm involving direct flagellum-surface interaction in addition to flagellum pushing the fluid. This finding signifies an evolutionary strategy of mammalian sperm crucial for their efficient migration through narrow, mucus-filled passages of the female reproductive tract.

Controlling inter-particle distances in crowds of motile, cognitive, active particles

Distance control in many-particle systems is a fundamental problem in nature. This becomes particularly relevant in systems of active agents, which can sense their environment and react by adjusting their direction of motion. We employ agent-based simulations to investigate the complex interplay between agent activity, characterized by Péclet number Pe , reorientation maneuverability Ω , vision angle θ and vision range R 0 , and agent density, which determines agent distancing and dynamics. We focus on semi-dense crowds, where the vision range is much larger than the particle size. The minimal distance to the nearest neighbors, exposure time, and persistence of orientation direction are analyzed to characterize the behavior. With increasing particle speed at fixed maneuverability, particles approach each other more closely, and exhibit shorter exposure times. The temporal persistence of motion decreases with increasing Pe , reflecting the impact of activity and maneuverability on direction changes. For a vision angle θ = π / 4 , we observe the emergence of flocking aggregates with a band-like structure, somewhat reminiscent of the bands in the Vicsek model. Additionally, for vision angles θ ≥ π / 2 , several quantities are found to display a universal scaling behavior with scaling variablePe 3 / 2 / Ω . Our results are in good agreement with recent experiments of pedestrians in confined spaces.

Non-equilibrium structural and dynamic behaviors of active polymers in complex and crowded environments

Active matter systems, which convert internal chemical energy or energy from the environment into directed motion, are ubiquitous in nature and exhibit a range of emerging non-equilibrium behaviors. However, most of the current works on active matter have been devoted to particles, and the study of active polymers has only recently come into the spotlight due to their prevalence within living organisms. The intricate interplay between activity and conformational degrees of freedom gives rise to novel structural and dynamical behaviors of active polymers. Research in active polymers remarkably broadens diverse concepts of polymer physics, such as molecular architecture, dynamics, scaling and so on, which is of significant importance for the development of new polymer materials with unique performance. Furthermore, active polymers are often found in strongly interacting and crowded systems and in complex environments, so that the understanding of this behavior is essential for future developments of novel polymer-based biomaterials. This review thereby focuses on the study of active polymers in complex and crowded environments, and aims to provide insights into the fundamental physics underlying the adaptive and collective behaviors far from equilibrium, as well as the open challenges that the field is currently facing.

Propulsion of zwitterionic surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil droplets by low electric fields

We show directional and controllable propulsion of zwitterionic surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil droplets driven by low electric fields. Our results suggest that the propulsion mechanism is based on stimulus-responsive on-demand interfacial phenomena.

Dynamics of anisotropic colloidal systems: What to choose, DLS, DDM or XPCS?

Investigation of the dynamics of colloids in bulk can be hindered by issues such as multiple scattering and sample opacity. These challenges are exacerbated when dealing with inorganic materials. In this study, we employed a model system of Akaganeite colloidal rods to assess three leading dynamics measurement techniques: 3D-(depolarized) dynamic light scattering (3D-(D)DLS), polarized-differential dynamic microscopy (P-DDM), and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). Our analysis revealed that the translational and rotational diffusion coefficients captured by these methods show a remarkable alignment. Additionally, by examining the q-ranges and maximum volume fractions for each approach, we offer insights into the best technique for investigating the dynamics of anisotropic systems at the colloidal scale.

Motility-induced coexistence of a hot liquid and a cold gas

If two phases exist at the same time, such as a gas and a liquid, they have the same temperature. This fundamental law of equilibrium physics is known to apply even to many non-equilibrium systems. However, recently, there has been much attention in the finding that inertial self-propelled particles like Janus colloids in a plasma or microflyers could self-organize into a hot gas-like phase that coexists with a colder liquid-like phase. Here, we show that a kinetic temperature difference across coexisting phases can occur even in equilibrium systems when adding generic (overdamped) self-propelled particles. In particular, we consider mixtures of overdamped active and inertial passive Brownian particles and show that when they phase separate into a dense and a dilute phase, both phases have different kinetic temperatures. Surprisingly, we find that the dense phase (liquid) cannot only be colder but also hotter than the dilute phase (gas). This effect hinges on correlated motions where active particles collectively push and heat up passive ones primarily within the dense phase. Our results answer the fundamental question if a non-equilibrium gas can be colder than a coexisting liquid and create a route to equip matter with self-organized domains of different kinetic temperatures.

Perspective on Integrative Simulations of Bioenergetic Domains

Bioenergetic processes in cells, such as photosynthesis or respiration, integrate many time and length scales, which makes the simulation of energy conversion with a mere single level of theory impossible. Just like the myriad of experimental techniques required to examine each level of organization, an array of overlapping computational techniques is necessary to model energy conversion. Here, a perspective is presented on recent efforts for modeling bioenergetic phenomena with a focus on molecular dynamics simulations and its variants as a primary method. An overview of the various classical, quantum mechanical, enhanced sampling, coarse-grained, Brownian dynamics, and Monte Carlo methods is presented. Example applications discussed include multiscale simulations of membrane-wide electron transport, rate kinetics of ATP turnover from electrochemical gradients, and finally, integrative modeling of the chromatophore, a photosynthetic pseudo-organelle.

Rotary FoF1-ATP Synthase-Driven Flasklike Pentosan Colloidal Motors with ATP Synthesis and Storage

We report the hierarchical assembly of a chloroplast-derived rotary FoF1-ATPase motor-propelled flasklike pentosan colloidal motor (FPCM) with the ability of the synthesis, storage, and triggered release of biological energy currency ATP. These streamlined and submicrometer-sized hollow flasklike pentosan colloidal motors are prepared by combining a soft-template-based hydrothermal polymerization with a vacuum infusion of chloroplast-derived proteoliposomes containing rotary FoF1-ATPase motors. The generation of proton motive force across the proteoliposomes by injecting an acidic buffer solution promotes the rotation of FoF1-ATPase motors to drive the self-propelled motion of FPCMs, accompanying the inner ATP synthesis and storage. These rotary FoF1-ATPase motor-powered FPCMs exhibit a chemotactic behavior by migrating from their neck opening to their round bottom along a proton gradient of the external environment (negative chemotaxis). Such rotary biomolecular motor-driven flasklike pentosan colloidal motors with ATP synthesis and on-demand release make them promising candidates for engineering novel intelligent nanocarriers to actively regulate cellular metabolism.

Slip of a liquid crystal droplet rotator in viscous fluids

Microscale flow plays an important role in several areas, including microbiological systems and microfluidic devices. These systems are often placed in viscous or complex fluids such as polymer solutions. Understanding microscale flow in viscous fluids will lead to a further development of microfluidic devices and elucidation of the collective motion of microorganisms. We studied the microscale flow induced by the optically driven rotation of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) droplet in an aqueous glycerol solution. The rotation of the droplets was controlled using circularly polarized optical tweezers. In water, the induced flow agrees well with the theoretical flow assuming a solid rotating particle and a no-slip boundary condition. However, the induced flow velocity deviated from the theoretical value as the viscosity of the glycerol solution increased. This deviation was mainly due to slip on the droplet surface. As an application of the NLC rotator, the viscosity of the solutions and the hydrodynamic interactions between the two rotating particles were measured.

Role of tumbling in bacterial scattering at convex obstacles

Active propulsion, as performed by bacteria and Janus particles, in combination with hydrodynamic interaction results in the accumulation of bacteria at a flat wall. However, in microfluidic devices with cylindrical pillars of sufficiently small radius, self-propelled particles can slide along and scatter off the surface of a pillar, without becoming trapped over long times. This nonequilibrium scattering process has been predicted to result in large diffusivities, even at high obstacle density, unlike particles that undergo classical specular reflection. Here, we test this prediction by experimentally studying the nonequilibrium scattering of pusherlike swimmers in microfluidic obstacle lattices. To explore the role of tumbles in the scattering process, we microscopically tracked wild-type (run and tumble) and smooth-swimming (run only) mutants of the bacterium Escherichia coli scattering off microfluidic pillars. We quantified key scattering parameters and related them to previously proposed models that included a prediction for the diffusivity, discussing their relevance. Finally, we discuss potential interpretations of the role of tumbles in the scattering process and connect our work to the broader study of swimmers in porous media.

Metachronal Motion of Biological and Artificial Cilia

Cilia are slender, hair-like cell protrusions that are present ubiquitously in the natural world. They perform essential functions, such as generating fluid flow, propulsion, and feeding, in organisms ranging from protozoa to the human body. The coordinated beating of cilia, which results in wavelike motions known as metachrony, has fascinated researchers for decades for its role in functions such as flow generation and mucus transport. Inspired by nature, researchers have explored diverse materials for the fabrication of artificial cilia and developed several methods to mimic the metachronal motion observed in their biological counterparts. In this review, we will introduce the different types of metachronal motion generated by both biological and artificial cilia, the latter including pneumatically, photonically, electrically, and magnetically driven artificial cilia. Furthermore, we review the possible applications of metachronal motion by artificial cilia, focusing on flow generation, transport of mucus, particles, and droplets, and microrobotic locomotion. The overall aim of this review is to offer a comprehensive overview of the metachronal motions exhibited by diverse artificial cilia and the corresponding practical implementations. Additionally, we identify the potential future directions within this field. These insights present an exciting opportunity for further advancements in this domain.

Motion of microswimmers in cylindrical microchannels

Biological and artificial microswimmers often have to propel through a variety of environments, ranging from heterogeneous suspending media to strong geometrical confinement. Under confinement, local flow fields generated by microswimmers, and steric and hydrodynamic interactions with their environment determine the locomotion. We propose a squirmer-like model to describe the motion of microswimmers in cylindrical microchannels, where propulsion is generated by a fixed surface slip velocity. The model is studied using an approximate analytical solution for cylindrical swimmer shapes, and by numerical hydrodynamics simulations for spherical and spheroidal shapes. For the numerical simulations, we employ the dissipative particle dynamics method for modelling fluid flow. Both the analytical model and simulations show that the propulsion force increases with increasing confinement. However, the swimming velocity under confinement remains lower than the swimmer speed without confinement for all investigated conditions. In simulations, different swimming modes (i.e. pusher, neutral, puller) are investigated, and found to play a significant role in the generation of propulsion force when a swimmer approaches a dead end of a capillary tube. Propulsion generation in confined systems is local, such that the generated flow field generally vanishes beyond the characteristic size of the swimmer. These results contribute to a better understanding of microswimmer force generation and propulsion under strong confinement, including the motion in porous media and in narrow channels.

Magnetic field directed assembly of magnetic non-spherical microparticles

This study reports on the fabrication and assembly of anisotropic microparticles as versatile building blocks for directed magnetic assemblies. Although spherical microparticles have received extensive attention, the assembly of non-spherical magnetic microparticles remains underexplored. Herein, we present a fabrication approach that utilizes photolithography and soft lithography to create prism-shaped magnetic microparticles. In order to investigate their assembly, a switching rotating magnetic field was employed. To support our experimental findings, a numerical model which takes into account the magnetic dipole moments induced by the field of other particles was developed. This model helps in understanding the forces and torques governing particle behavior during assembly. Simulations were conducted using the numerical model to complement our experimental findings. In the two particle experiments, attractive magnetic interactions led to various configurations depending on initial positions. For three particles, a tip-to-tip configuration suggested closed or stable ring-like structures. Our work highlights the feasibility of producing highly responsive, non-spherical magnetic microparticles and their potential for assemblies. The versatile fabrication method, coupled with the added degree of freedom conferred by prismatic shapes, opens promising avenues for applications in biology and material science.

Unlocking the potential of information flow: Maximizing free-energy transduction in a model of an autonomous rotary molecular motor

Molecular motors fulfill critical functions within all living beings. Understanding their underlying working principles is therefore of great interest. Here we develop a simple model inspired by the two-component biomolecular motor F_{o}-F_{1} ATP synthase. We analyze its energetics and characterize information flows between the machine's components. At maximum output power we find that information transduction plays a minor role for free-energy transduction. However, when the two components are coupled to different environments (e.g., when in contact with heat baths at different temperatures), we show that information flow becomes a resource worth exploiting to maximize free-energy transduction. Our findings suggest that real-world powerful and efficient information engines could be found in machines whose components are subjected to fluctuations of different strength, since in this situation the benefit gained from using information for work extraction can outweigh the costs of information generation.

Active osmoticlike pressure on permeable inclusions

We use a standard minimal active Brownian model to investigate the osmotic-like effective pressure generated by active fluids on fixed hollow inclusions. These inclusions are enclosed by a permeable (albeit nonflexible) membrane, and the interior and exterior regions of the inclusions have different particle motility strengths. We consider both rectangular and disklike inclusions and analyze the effects of various system parameters, such as excluded volume interaction between active particles, hardness of membrane, and active particle density, on the effective pressure produced on the enclosing membrane. We focus on the range of intermediate to high motility strengths and analyze the effective pressure in the steady state. Our findings for the active pressure produced in the interior and exterior regions of the inclusion indicate that the pressure is higher in the region with lower motility due to the relatively stronger accumulation of active particles.

Learning how to find targets in the micro-world: the case of intermittent active Brownian particles

Finding the best strategy to minimize the time needed to find a given target is a crucial task both in nature and in reaching decisive technological advances. By considering learning agents able to switch their dynamics between standard and active Brownian motion, here we focus on developing effective target-search behavioral policies for microswimmers navigating a homogeneous environment and searching for targets of unknown position. We exploit projective simulation, a reinforcement learning algorithm, to acquire an efficient stochastic policy represented by the probability of switching the phase, i.e. the navigation mode, in response to the type and the duration of the current phase. Our findings reveal that the target-search efficiency increases with the particle's self-propulsion during the active phase and that, while the optimal duration of the passive case decreases monotonically with the activity, the optimal duration of the active phase displays a non-monotonic behavior.

Active chiral dynamics and boundary accumulation phenomenon in confined camphor particles

In this work, we perform experimental and numerical investigations on the dynamics of camphor-infused discs, well-established as active particles in their behavior. Our analysis focuses on examining the individual dynamics of these discs within a confined circular domain, revealing that they exhibit characteristics akin to active chiral particles. To characterize this behavior effectively, we introduce a methodology for estimating key model parameter values from our experiments, including linear velocity, angular velocity, and angular noise intensity. To validate our findings, we compare our experimental results with numerical simulations of the model. Our results demonstrate a striking phenomenon associated with camphor-infused discs: a pronounced accumulation of particles along the boundary. This intriguing observation suggests the occurrence of an attractive interaction between the active particles and the boundary, resulting in a kind of adsorption effect. The latter results in the confinement of the camphor disc along the Petri dish wall, which we refer to as sliding dynamics. We empirically determine the velocity of the particle along the Petri dish wall as well as its fluctuations, properties whose behavior notably deviates from the bulk dynamics.

Characterization and Control of the Run-and-Tumble Dynamics of Escherichia Coli

We characterize the full spatiotemporal gait of populations of swimming Escherichia coli using renewal processes to analyze the measurements of intermediate scattering functions. This allows us to demonstrate quantitatively how the persistence length of an engineered strain can be controlled by a chemical inducer and to report a controlled transition from perpetual tumbling to smooth swimming. For wild-type E. coli, we measure simultaneously the microscopic motility parameters and the large-scale effective diffusivity, hence quantitatively bridging for the first time small-scale directed swimming and macroscopic diffusion.

Adsorption of active polymers on attractive nanoparticles

The adsorption of active polymers on an attractive nanoparticle (NP) is studied using Langevin dynamics simulations. The active polymers consist of an active Brownian particle (ABP) at the head and a subsequent passive polymer chain. The ABP experiences an active force of magnitude Fa. The interactions between the active polymer and NP are modeled as Lennard-Jones potential with a strength εpn. We find the critical adsorption point εpn* increases with increasing the active force Fa. The increment of εpn*, denoted as Δεpn*, due to Fa can be expressed approximately as Δεpn* ∝ Fa2.5 for the restricted rotating active polymer (RRAP) where the rotation of the head ABP is restricted and Δεpn* ∝ Fa1.7 for the freely rotating active polymer (FRAP) where the ABP rotates freely. Meanwhile, the conformation of the adsorbed polymer, such as adsorbed trains on NP and the tail near the ABP, are also dependent on Fa. When the tail near the ABP is short, the adsorption is significantly affected by the active force. However, when the tail is long, the whole polymer can be viewed as a long tail stretched by the active force and unperturbed adsorption monomers. Simulation results show that the active force has a direct and significant effect on εpn* and the structure of the adsorbed active polymers.

Formation and mechanics of fire ant rafts as an active self-healing membrane

The unique ability of fire ants to form a raft to survive flooding rain has enchanted biologists as well as researchers in other disciplines. It was established during the last decade that a three-dimensional aggregation of fire ants exhibits viscoelasticity with respect to external compression and shearing among numerous unusual mechanical properties. Continuing these works, we will study the ant raft in its natural form, i.e., composing no more than two layers. This allowed us to focus on the cracks that are unique to membranes and see how their patterns are influenced by the fact that these ants are mobile and can self-repair the damage to keep their raft from disintegration. In the beginning, we show that vertical and horizontal shaking can also prompt fire ants to aggregate. The canonical view that the stability of ant raft relies on the Cheerios effect and a combination of other parameters is tested. The force-displacement experiment is performed to show that two distinct mechanical responses and fracture patterns, characteristic of ductile and brittle materials, can be elicited, depending on the magnitude of the pull speed. During the process, we counted the number of ants that actively participated in the stress-strain relation and used this information to roughly sketch out the force chain. The latter information reveals that the pull force expedites the alignment of fire ants, in analogy to the effect of an electric field on liquid crystal polymers. To highlight the self-healing nature, we employ the creep experiment to study how the length and Young's modulus of the raft change or relax with time. One major finding is that the raft can exhibit zero Poisson's ratio without resorting to specific geometry structures. This is enabled by the active recruitment of ants from the top layer to the bottom layer to keep the raft from disintegrating.

Nonequilibrium phase transitions in a Brownian p-state clock model

We introduce a Brownian p-state clock model in two dimensions and investigate the nature of phase transitions numerically. As a nonequilibrium extension of the equilibrium lattice model, the Brownian p-state clock model allows spins to diffuse randomly in the two-dimensional space of area L^{2} under periodic boundary conditions. We find three distinct phases for p>4: a disordered paramagnetic phase, a quasi-long-range-ordered critical phase, and an ordered ferromagnetic phase. In the intermediate critical phase, the magnetization order parameter follows a power-law scaling m∼L^{-β[over ̃]}, where the finite-size scaling exponent β[over ̃] varies continuously. These critical behaviors are reminiscent of the double Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition picture of the equilibrium system. At the transition to the disordered phase, the exponent takes the universal value β[over ̃]=1/8, which coincides with that of the equilibrium system. This result indicates that the BKT transition driven by the unbinding of topological excitations is robust against the particle diffusion. On the contrary, the exponent at the symmetry-breaking transition to the ordered phase deviates from the universal value β[over ̃]=2/p^{2} of the equilibrium system. The deviation is attributed to a nonequilibrium effect from the particle diffusion.

Stationary particle currents in sedimenting active matter wetting a wall

Recently it was predicted, on the basis of a lattice gas model, that scalar active matter in a gravitational field would rise against gravity up a confining wall or inside a thin capillary-in spite of repulsive particle-wall interactions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 048001 (2020)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.124.048001]. In this paper we confirm this prediction with sedimenting active Brownian particles (ABPs) in a box numerically and elucidate the mechanism leading to the formation of a meniscus rising above the bulk of the sedimentation region. The height of the meniscus increases with the activity of the system, algebraically with the Péclet number. The formation of the meniscus is determined by a stationary circular particle current, a vortex, centered at the base of the meniscus, whose size and strength increase with the ABP activity. The origin of these vortices can be traced back to the confinement of the ABPs in a box: already the stationary state of ideal (noninteracting) ABPs without gravitation displays circular currents that arrange in a highly symmetric way in the eight octants of the box. Gravitation distorts this vortex configuration downward, leaving two major vortices at the two side walls, with a strong downward flow along the walls. Repulsive interactions between the ABPs change this situation only as soon as motility induced phase separation (MIPS) sets in and forms a dense, sedimented liquid region at the bottom, which pushes the center of the vortex upwards towards the liquid-gas interface. Self-propelled particles therefore represent an impressive realization of scalar active matter that forms stationary particle currents being able to perform visible work against gravity or any other external field, which we predict to be observable experimentally in active colloids under gravitation.

Quantitative characterization of run-and-tumble statistics in bulk bacterial suspensions

We introduce a numerical method to extract the parameters of run-and-tumble dynamics from experimental measurements of the intermediate scattering function. We show that proceeding in Laplace space is unpractical and employ instead renewal processes to work directly in real time. We first validate our approach against data produced using agent-based simulations. This allows us to identify the length and time scales required for an accurate measurement of the motility parameters, including tumbling frequency and swim speed. We compare different models for the run-and-tumble dynamics by accounting for speed variability at the single-cell and population level, respectively. Finally, we apply our approach to experimental data on wild-type Escherichia coli obtained using differential dynamic microscopy.

Nonequilibrium structure formation in electrohydrodynamic emulsions

Application of an electric field across the interface of two fluids with low, but non-zero, conductivities gives rise to a sustained electrohydrodynamic (EHD) fluid flow. In the presence of neighboring drops, drops interact via the EHD flows of their neighbors, as well as through a dielectrophoretic (DEP) force, a consequence of drops encountering disturbance electric fields around their neighbors. We explore the collective dynamics of emulsions with drops undergoing EHD and DEP interactions. The interplay between EHD and DEP results in a rich set of emergent behaviors. We simulate the collective behavior of large numbers of drops; in two dimensions, where drops are confined to a plane; and three dimensions. In monodisperse emulsions, drops in two dimensions cluster or crystallize depending on the relative strengths of EHD and DEP, and form spaced clusters when EHD and DEP balance. In three dimensions, chain formation observed under DEP alone is suppressed by EHD, and lost entirely when EHD dominates. When a second population of drops are introduced, such that the electrical conductivity, permittivity, or viscosity are different from the first population of drops, the interaction between the drops becomes non-reciprocal, an apparent violation of Newton's Third Law. The breadth of consequences due to these non-reciprocal interactions are vast: we show selected cases in two dimensions, where drops cluster into active dimers, trimers, and larger clusters that continue to translate and rotate over long timescales; and three dimensions, where drops form stratified chains, or combine into a single dynamic sheet.

In vivo volumetric depth-resolved imaging of cilia metachronal waves using dynamic optical coherence tomography

Motile cilia are dynamic hair-like structures covering epithelial surfaces in multiple organs. The periodic coordinated beating of cilia creates waves propagating along the surface, known as the metachronal waves, which transport fluids and mucus along the epithelium. Motile ciliopathies result from disrupted coordinated cilia beating and are associated with serious clinical complications, including reproductive disorders. Despite the recognized clinical significance, research of cilia dynamics is extremely limited. Here, we present quantitative imaging of cilia metachronal waves volumetrically through tissue layers using dynamic optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our method relies on spatiotemporal mapping of the phase of intensity fluctuations in OCT images caused by the ciliary beating. We validated our new method ex vivo and implemented it in vivo to visualize cilia metachronal wave propagation within the mouse fallopian tube. This method can be extended to the assessment of physiological cilia function and ciliary dyskinesias in various organ systems, contributing to better management of pathologies associated with motile ciliopathies.

Characteristic features of self-avoiding active Brownian polymers under linear shear flow

We present Brownian dynamics simulation results of a flexible linear polymer with excluded-volume interactions under shear flow in the presence of active noise. The active noise strongly affects the polymer's conformational and dynamical properties, such as the stretching in the flow direction and compression in the gradient direction, shear-induced alignment, and shear viscosity. In the asymptotic limit of large activities and shear rates, the power-law scaling exponents of these quantities differ significantly from those of passive polymers. The chain's shear-induced stretching at a given shear rate is reduced by active noise, and it displays a non-monotonic behavior, where an initial polymer compression is followed by its stretching with increasing active force. The compression of the polymer in the gradient direction follows the relation ∼WiPe-3/4 as a function of the activity-dependent Weissenberg number WiPe, which differs from the scaling observed in passive systems ∼WiPe-1/2. The flow-induced alignment at large Péclet numbers Pe ≫ 1, where Pe is the Péclet number, and large shear rates WiPe ≫ 1 displays the scaling behavior WiPe-1/2, with an exponent differing from the passive value -1/3. Furthermore, the polymer's zero-shear viscosity displays a non-monotonic behavior, decreasing in an intermediate activity regime due to excluded-volume interactions and increasing again for large Pe. Shear thinning appears with increasing Weissenberg number with the power-laws WiPe-1/2 and WiPe-3/4 for passive and active polymers, respectively. In addition, our simulation results are compared with the results of an analytical approach, which predicts quantitatively similar behaviors for the various aforementioned physical quantities.

Magnetic Soft Robot for Minimally Invasive Urethral Catheter Biofilm Eradication

Catheter-related biofilm infection remains the main problem for millions of people annually, affecting morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. Despite the recent advances in the prevention of biofilm formation, alternative methods for biofilm prevention or eradication still should be found to avoid traumatic and expensive removal or catheter replacement. Soft magnetic robots have drawn significant interest in favor of remote control, fast response, and wide space for design. In this work, we demonstrated magnetic soft robots as a minimally invasive, safe, and effective approach to eliminate biofilm from urethral catheters (20 Fr or 5.1 mm in diameter). Seven designs of the robot were fabricated (size 4.5 × 15 mm), characterized, and tested in the presence of a rotating magnetic field. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrated the superior efficiency of biofilm removal on the model of a urethral catheter using a magnetic robot, reaching full eradication for the octagram-shaped robot (velocity 2.88 ± 0.6 mm/s) at a 15 Hz frequency and a 10 mT amplitude. These findings are helpful for the treatment of biofilm-associated catheter contamination, which allows an increase in the catheter wearing time without frequent replacement and treatment of catheter-associated infections.

Asymmetric bistability of chiral particle orientation in viscous shear flows

The migration of helical particles in viscous shear flows plays a crucial role in chiral particle sorting. Attaching a nonchiral head to a helical particle leads to a rheotactic torque inducing particle reorientation. This phenomenon is responsible for bacterial rheotaxis observed for flagellated bacteria as Escherichia coli in shear flows. Here, we use a high-resolution microprinting technique to fabricate microparticles with controlled and tunable chiral shape consisting of a spherical head and helical tails of various pitch and handedness. By observing the fully time-resolved dynamics of these microparticles in microfluidic channel flow, we gain valuable insights into chirality-induced orientation dynamics. Our experimental model system allows us to examine the effects of particle elongation, chirality, and head heaviness for different flow rates on the orientation dynamics, while minimizing the influence of Brownian noise. Through our model experiments, we demonstrate the existence of asymmetric bistability of the particle orientation perpendicular to the flow direction. We quantitatively explain the particle equilibrium orientations as a function of particle properties, initial conditions and flow rates, as well as the time-dependence of the reorientation dynamics through a theoretical model. The model parameters are determined using boundary element simulations, and excellent agreement with experiments is obtained without any adjustable parameters. Our findings lead to a better understanding of chiral particle transport and bacterial rheotaxis and might allow the development of targeted delivery applications.

Survival probabilities and first-passage distributions of self-propelled particles in spherical cavities

A model of self-propelled motion in a closed compartment containing simple or complex fluids is formulated in this paper in terms of the dynamics of a point particle moving in a spherical cavity under the action of random thermal forces and exponentially correlated noise. The particle's time evolution is governed by a generalized Langevin equation (GLE) in which the memory function, connected to the thermal forces by a fluctuation-dissipation relation, is described by Jeffrey's model of viscoelasticity (which reduces to a model of ordinary viscous dynamics in a suitable limit). The GLE is transformed exactly to a Fokker-Planck equation that in spherical polar coordinates is in turn found to admit of an exact solution for the particle's probability density function under absorbing boundary conditions at the surface of the sphere. The solution is used to derive an expression (that is also exact) for the survival probability of the particle in the sphere, starting from its center, which is then used to calculate the distribution of the particle's first-passage times to the boundary. The behavior of these quantities is investigated as a function of the Péclet number and the persistence time of the athermal forces, providing insight into the effects of nonequilibrium fluctuations on confined particle motion in three dimensions.

Noise-Induced Quenched Disorder in Dense Active Systems

We report and characterize the emergence of a noise-induced state of quenched disorder in a generic model describing a dense sheet of active polar disks. In this state, self-propelled disks become jammed with random orientations, only displaying small fluctuations about their mean positions and headings. The quenched disorder phase appears at intermediate noise levels, between moving polar order and standard dynamic disorder. We show that it results from retrograde forces produced by angular fluctuations with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck dynamics, compute its critical noise, and argue that it could emerge in a variety of systems.

Orientation-Dependent Propulsion of Active Brownian Spheres: From Self-Advection to Programmable Cluster Shapes

Applications of active particles require a method for controlling their dynamics. While this is typically achieved via direct interventions, indirect interventions based, e.g., on an orientation-dependent self-propulsion speed of the particles, become increasingly popular. In this Letter, we investigate systems of interacting active Brownian spheres in two spatial dimensions with orientation-dependent propulsion using analytical modeling and Brownian dynamics simulations. It is found that the orientation dependence leads to self-advection, circulating currents, and programmable cluster shapes.

Hydrodynamics-Induced Long-Range Attraction between Plates in Bacterial Suspensions

We perform optical-tweezers experiments and mesoscale fluid simulations to study the effective interactions between two parallel plates immersed in bacterial suspensions. The plates are found to experience a long-range attraction, which increases linearly with bacterial density and decreases with plate separation. The higher bacterial density and orientation order between plates observed in the experiments imply that the long-range effective attraction mainly arises from the bacterial flow field, instead of the direct bacterium-plate collisions, which is confirmed by the simulations. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic contribution is inversely proportional to the squared interplate separation in the far field. Our findings highlight the importance of hydrodynamics on the effective forces between passive objects in active baths, providing new possibilities to control activity-directed assembly.

Active Spaghetti: Collective Organization in Cyanobacteria

Filamentous cyanobacteria can show fascinating examples of nonequilibrium self-organization, which, however, are not well understood from a physical perspective. We investigate the motility and collective organization of colonies of these simple multicellular lifeforms. As their area density increases, linear chains of cells gliding on a substrate show a transition from an isotropic distribution to bundles of filaments arranged in a reticulate pattern. Based on our experimental observations of individual behavior and pairwise interactions, we introduce a nonreciprocal model accounting for the filaments' large aspect ratio, fluctuations in curvature, motility, and nematic interactions. This minimal model of active filaments recapitulates the observations, and rationalizes the appearance of a characteristic length scale in the system, based on the Péclet number of the cyanobacteria filaments.

Active Brownian particles in external force fields: Field-theoretical models, generalized barometric law, and programmable density patterns

We investigate the influence of external forces on the collective dynamics of interacting active Brownian particles in two as well as three spatial dimensions. Via explicit coarse graining, we derive predictive models, i.e., models that give a direct relation between the models' coefficients and the bare parameters of the system, that are applicable for space- and time-dependent external force fields. We study these models for the cases of gravity and harmonic traps. In particular, we derive a generalized barometric formula for interacting active Brownian particles under gravity that is valid for low to high concentrations and activities of the particles. Furthermore, we show that one can use an external harmonic trap to induce motility-induced phase separation in systems that, without external fields, remain in a homogeneous state. This finding makes it possible to realize programmable density patterns in systems of active Brownian particles. Our analytic predictions are found to be in very good agreement with Brownian dynamics simulations.

Chemotaxis of an elastic flagellated microrobot

Machine learning algorithms offer a tool to boost mobility and flexibility of a synthetic microswimmer, hence may help us design truly smart microrobots. In this work, we design a two-gait microrobot swimming in circular or helical trajectory. It utilizes the coupling between flagellum elasticity and resistive force to change the characteristics of swimming trajectory. Leveraging a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach, we show that the microrobot can self-learn chemotactic motion autonomously (without heuristics) using only several current and historical chemoattractant concentration and curvature information. The learned strategy is more efficient than a human-devised shortsighted strategy and can be further greatly improved in a stochastic environment. Furthermore, in the helical trajectory case, if additional heuristic information of direction is supplemented to evaluate the strategy during the learning process, then a highly efficient strategy can be discovered by the DRL. The microrobot can quickly align the helix vector to the gradient direction using just several smart sequential gait switchings. The success for the efficient strategies depends on how much historical information is provided and also the steering angle step size of the microrobot. Our results provide useful guidance for the design and smart maneuver of synthetic spermlike microswimmers.

Noise-induced escape of a self-propelled particle from metastable orbits

Active particles, like motile microorganisms and active colloids, are often found in confined environments where they can be arrested in a persistent orbital motion. Here, we investigate noise-induced switching between different coexisting orbits of a confined active particle as a stochastic escape problem. We show that, in the low-noise regime, this problem can be formulated as a least-action principle, which amounts to finding the most probable escape path from an orbit to the basin of attraction of another coexisting orbit. The corresponding action integral coincides with the activation energy, a quantity readily accessible in experiments and simulations via escape rate data. To illustrate how this approach can be used to tackle specific problems, we calculate optimum escape paths and activation energies for noise-induced transitions between clockwise and counterclockwise circular orbits of an active particle in radially symmetric confinement. We also investigated transitions between orbits of different topologies (ovals and lemniscates) coexisting in elliptic confinement. In all worked examples, the calculated optimum paths and minimum actions are in excellent agreement with mean-escape-time data obtained from direct numerical integration of the Langevin equations.

Entropy production and collective excitations of crystals out of equilibrium: The concept of entropons

We study the collective vibrational excitations of crystals under out-of-equilibrium steady conditions that give rise to entropy production. Their excitation spectrum comprises equilibriumlike phonons of thermal origin and additional collective excitations called entropons because each of them represents a mode of spectral entropy production. Entropons coexist with phonons and dominate them when the system is far from equilibrium while they are negligible in near-equilibrium regimes. The concept of entropons has been recently introduced and verified in a special case of crystals formed by self-propelled particles. Here we show that entropons exist in a broader class of active crystals that are intrinsically out of equilibrium and characterized by the lack of detailed balance. After a general derivation, several explicit examples are discussed, including crystals consisting of particles with alignment interactions and frictional contact forces.

Minimum entropy production by microswimmers with internal dissipation

The energy dissipation and entropy production by self-propelled microswimmers differ profoundly from passive particles pulled by external forces. The difference extends both to the shape of the flow around the swimmer, as well as to the internal dissipation of the propulsion mechanism. Here we derive a general theorem that provides an exact lower bound on the total, external and internal, dissipation by a microswimmer. The problems that can be solved include an active surface-propelled droplet, swimmers with an extended propulsive layer and swimmers with an effective internal dissipation. We apply the theorem to determine the swimmer shapes that minimize the total dissipation while keeping the volume constant. Our results show that the entropy production by active microswimmers is subject to different fundamental limits than the entropy production by externally driven particles.

Elastohydrodynamic propulsion of a filament magnetically driven at both ends

The elastohydrodynamic interaction between an elastic filament and its surrounding fluid was exploited to develop the first microswimmers. These flexible microswimmers are typically actuated magnetically at one end and their propulsion behavior is relatively well understood. In this work, we move beyond the traditional single-end actuation setup and explore the propulsion characteristics of an elastic filament driven by magnetic torques at both ends. We report the emergence of new modes of propulsion behaviors in different physical regimes, depending on the balance of elastic and viscous forces as well as the arrangement of the magnetic moments at the filament ends. In particular, under the same magnetic actuation, a filament driven at both ends can propel either forward or backward depending on its relative stiffness. Moreover, this new backward propulsion mode can generate a magnitude of propulsion that is unattainable by the traditional single-end actuation setup. We characterize these new propulsion behaviors and provide some physical insights into how they emerge from the complex interplay between viscous and elastic forces and magnetic actuation in various configurations. Taken together, these findings could guide the development of soft microrobots with enhanced propulsion performance and maneuverability for future biomedical applications.