Diffusion of active particles with angular velocity reversal

TL;DR

This paper investigates how active particles with time-varying angular velocity, including reversals, diffuse in space, using simulations and analytical methods to understand their motion patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a model for active particles with angular velocity reversals, analyzing their diffusion behavior through simulations and perturbative techniques.

Findings

Angular velocity reversals significantly affect particle diffusion.

The model captures behaviors observed in synthetic active matter systems.

Effective diffusivity varies with reversal dynamics.

Abstract

Biological and synthetic microswimmers display a wide range of swimming trajectories depending on driving forces and torques. In this paper we consider a simple overdamped model of self-propelled particles with a constant self-propulsion speed, but an angular velocity that varies in time. Specifically, we consider the case of both deterministic and stochastic angular velocity reversal, mimicking several synthetic active matter systems like propelled droplets. The orientational correlation function and effective diffusivity is studied using Langevin dynamics simulations and perturbative methods.