Self-Organized Vortices of Circling Self-Propelled Particles and Curved Active Flagella

TL;DR

This paper explores the collective vortex patterns formed by self-propelled particles and curved flagella, revealing how interactions and system parameters influence vortex formation and comparing simulation results with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a velocity-trajectory coordination rule leading to self-organized vortices and systematically analyzes the transition between different vortex states in simulations.

Findings

Vortex patterns emerge from velocity-trajectory coordination.

Transition from light to heavy vortices depends on system parameters.

Simulation results quantitatively match experimental observations.

Abstract

Self-propelled point-like particles move along circular trajectories when their translocation velocity is constant and the angular velocity related to their orientation vector is also constant. We investigate the collective behavior of ensembles of such circle swimmers by Brownian dynamics simulations. If the particles interact via a "velocity-trajectory coordination" rule within neighboring particles, a self-organized vortex pattern emerges. This vortex pattern is characterized by its particle-density correlation function $G_\rho$, the density correlation function $G_c$ of trajectory centers, and an order parameter $S$ representing the degree of the aggregation of the particles. Here, we systematically vary the system parameters, such as the particle density and the interaction range, in order to reveal the transition of the system from a light-vortex-dominated to heavy-vortex-dominated state, where vortices contain mainly a single and many self-propelled particles, respectively. We also study a semi-dilute solution of curved, sinusoidal-beating flagella, as an example of circling self-propelled particles with explicit propulsion mechanism and excluded-volume interactions. Our simulation results are compared with previous experimental results for the vortices in sea-urchin sperm solutions near a wall. The properties of the vortices in simulations and experiments are found to agree quantitatively.