Flexibility Induced Motion Transition of Active Filament: Rotation without Long-range Hydrodynamic Interaction

TL;DR

This study explores how the flexibility of active filaments causes motion transitions, including rotation without the need for long-range hydrodynamic interactions, highlighting the role of individual properties in filament dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that filament rotation can occur independently of long-range hydrodynamic interactions and details the shape instability mechanisms driving motion transitions.

Findings

Filament exhibits translation, snaking, and rotation motions.

Flexibility induces shape instability and motion transition.

Rotation can occur without long-range hydrodynamic interactions.

Abstract

We investigate the motion of active semiflexible filament with shape kinematics and hydrodynamic interaction including. Three types of filament motion are found: Translation, snaking and rotation. Change of flexibility will induce instability of shape kinematics and further result in asymmetry of shape kinematics respect to the motion of mass center, which are responsible to a continuous-like transition from translation to snaking and a first-order-like transition from snaking to rotation, respectively. Of particular interest, we find that long-range hydrodynamic interaction is not necessary for filament rotation, but can enhance remarkably the parameter region for its appearance. This finding may provide an evidence that the experimentally found collective rotation of active filaments is more likely to arise from the individual property even without the long-range hydrodynamic interaction.