Multisynchrony in active microfilaments

TL;DR

This paper investigates how pairs of active microfilaments can synchronize in multiple modes, including nontrivial phase-lags, through fluid-mediated coupling, using a combination of modeling, simulations, and theoretical analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a combined elasto-hydrodynamic model and phase analysis to explain multisynchrony in active microfilaments, revealing new synchronization states.

Findings

Multiple synchronization modes including nontrivial phase-lags identified.

Transitions between synchronization states characterized by bifurcations.

Phase sensitivity analysis elucidates underlying bifurcation mechanisms.

Abstract

Biological microfilaments exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. Recent experiments observed that a pair of isolated eukaryotic flagella, coupled solely via the fluid medium, display synchrony at nontrivial phase-lags in addition to in-phase and anti-phase synchrony. Using an elasto-hydrodynamic filament model in conjunction with numerical simulations and a Floquet-type theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that it is possible to reach multiple synchronization states by varying the intrinsic activity of the filament and the strength of hydrodynamic coupling between the two filaments. We then derive an evolution equation for the phase difference between the two filaments at weak-coupling, and use a Kuramoto-style phase sensitivity analysis to reveal the nature of the bifurcations underlying the transitions between these different synchronized states.