Self-propulsion with speed and orientation fluctuation: exact computation of moments and dynamical bistabilities in displacement

TL;DR

This paper provides exact analytical expressions for the moments of displacement in active Brownian particles with speed fluctuations, revealing complex dynamical behaviors and bistabilities influenced by activity, persistence, and speed variability.

Contribution

It introduces an exact method to compute moments of active particle displacement considering speed fluctuations, highlighting new dynamical crossovers and bistabilities.

Findings

Exact expressions for displacement moments match simulations.

Identification of two dynamical crossovers influenced by activity and persistence.

Displacement distribution shows bimodal behavior at intermediate times.

Abstract

We consider the influence of active speed fluctuations on the dynamics of a $d$-dimensional active Brownian particle performing a persistent stochastic motion. We use the Laplace transform of the Fokker-Planck equation to obtain exact expressions for time-dependent dynamical moments. Our results agree with direct numerical simulations and show several dynamical crossovers determined by the activity, persistence, and speed fluctuation.The persistence in the motion leads to anisotropy, with the parallel component of displacement fluctuation showing sub-diffusive behavior and non-monotonic variation. The kurtosis remains positive at short times determined by the speed fluctuation, crossing over to a negative minimum at intermediate times governed by the persistence before vanishing asymptotically. The probability distribution of particle displacement obtained from numerical simulations in two-dimension shows two crossovers between contracted and expanded trajectories via two bimodal distributions at intervening times. While the speed fluctuation dominates the first crossover, the second crossover is controlled by persistence like in the worm-like chain model of semiflexible polymers.