Noisy pursuit by a self-steering active particle in confinement

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of a self-steering active particle in confinement, revealing how activity, steering, and confinement influence pursuit dynamics through theoretical analysis and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical and simulation-based study of a self-steering active particle in confinement, highlighting new scaling regimes and the impact of confinement on pursuit behavior.

Findings

Universal scaling regimes for pursuer-target distance in free pursuit.

A novel constant mean-distance regime due to steering.

Confinement influences propulsion direction and scaling at high Peclet numbers.

Abstract

The properties of a cognitive, self-propelled, and self-steering particle in the presence of a stationary target are analyzed theoretically and by simulations. In particular, the effects of confinement in competition with activity and steering are addressed. The pursuer is described as an intelligent active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle (iAOUP), confined in a harmonic potential. For the free pursuer, we find universal scaling regimes for the pursuer-target distance in terms of the Peclet number and maneuverability. Steering results in a novel constant mean-distance regime, which broadens with increasing maneuverability. Confinement strongly affects the propulsion direction and leads to a scaling at large Peclet numbers similar to that in absence of confinement, yet with a pronounced dependence on confinement strength.