Spinning motion of a deformable self-propelled particle in two dimensions

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex spinning and deformable motion of a self-propelled particle in 2D, deriving equations from symmetry and analyzing various dynamical states through simulations and bifurcation analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model combining velocity, deformation, and spinning variables for deformable particles, and analyzes their dynamical states and bifurcations.

Findings

Diverse dynamical states observed due to interplay of spinning and deformation

Bifurcation analysis reveals transitions between states

Numerical simulations confirm theoretical predictions

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of a single deformable self-propelled particle which undergoes a spinning motion in a two-dimensional space. Equations of motion are derived from the symmetry argument for three kinds of variables. One is a vector which represents the velocity of the centre of mass. The second is a traceless symmetric tensor representing deformation. The third is an antisymmetric tensor for spinning degree of freedom. By numerical simulations, we have obtained variety of dynamical states due to interplay between the spinning motion and the deformation. The bifurcations of these dynamical states are analyzed by the simplified equations of motion.