Stationary nonequilibrium bound state of a pair of run and tumble particles

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stationary bound states of two interacting run and tumble particles in one dimension, deriving explicit probability distributions for different interaction potentials and analyzing clustering effects under various noise conditions.

Contribution

It provides explicit formulas for the stationary probability distribution of two RTPs with attractive interactions, revealing novel clustering phenomena and connections to single-particle RTP models.

Findings

For zero diffusion, strong clustering with delta functions at zero separation.

Finite diffusion broadens clustering, leading to weak clustering.

Explicit solutions for linear and quadratic interaction potentials.

Abstract

We study two interacting identical run and tumble particles (RTP's) in one dimension. Each particle is driven by a telegraphic noise, and in some cases, also subjected to a thermal white noise with a corresponding diffusion constant $D$. We are interested in the stationary bound state formed by the two RTP's in the presence of a mutual attractive interaction. The distribution of the relative coordinate $y$ indeed reaches a steady state that we characterize in terms of the solution of a second-order differential equation. We obtain the explicit formula for the stationary probability $P(y)$ of $y$ for two examples of interaction potential $V(y)$. The first one corresponds to $V(y) \sim |y|$. In this case, for $D=0$ we find that $P(y)$ contains a delta function part at $y=0$, signaling a strong clustering effect, together with a smooth exponential component. For $D>0$, the delta function part broadens, leading instead to weak clustering. The second example is the harmonic attraction $V(y) \sim y^2$ in which case, for $D=0$, $P(y)$ is supported on a finite interval. We unveil an interesting relation between this two-RTP model with harmonic attraction and a three-state single RTP model in one dimension, as well as with a four-state single RTP model in two dimensions. We also provide a general discussion of the stationary bound state, including examples where it is not unique, e.g., when the particles cannot cross due to an additional short-range repulsion.