The most probable path of Active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particles

TL;DR

This paper derives analytical expressions for the most probable paths of active particles driven by persistent noise, specifically in harmonic potentials, and validates these results through simulations and comparisons with equilibrium approximations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to compute the most probable trajectories of active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particles analytically in harmonic potentials.

Findings

Analytical trajectories match numerical simulations.

Active particles exhibit predictable paths in harmonic traps.

Approximate equilibrium models differ from exact active particle dynamics.

Abstract

Using the path integral representation of the non-equilibrium dynamics, we compute the most probable path between arbitrary starting and final points, followed by an active particle driven by persistent noise. We focus our attention on the case of active particles immersed in harmonic potentials, where the trajectory can be computed analytically. Once we consider the extended Markovian dynamics where the self-propulsive drive evolves according to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, we can compute the trajectory analytically with arbitrary conditions on position and self-propulsion velocity. We test the analytical predictions against numerical simulations and we compare the analytical results with those obtained within approximated equilibrium-like dynamics.