Velocity modulus diffusion of self-propelled spherical and circular particles: A generalized Langevin approach

TL;DR

This paper develops a generalized Langevin framework to analyze the velocity diffusion of self-propelled spherical and circular particles in a thermal fluid, highlighting internal propulsion fluctuations and their decay over time.

Contribution

It introduces a novel stochastic model combining Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes with a generalized Langevin equation for self-propelled particles in harmonic confinement.

Findings

Internal propulsion velocity fluctuations decay at long times.

The model accurately describes velocity magnitude dynamics for both spheres and disks.

Simulations confirm theoretical predictions of velocity behavior.

Abstract

This research presents a framework for describing the average velocity magnitude of an accelerated, self-propelled Brownian particle diffusing in a thermal fluid and confined by a harmonic external potential. The system is immersed in a thermal bath of harmonic oscillators at a constant temperature, where the bath constituents also interact with the external field. The dynamics are investigated for both a sphere and a disk, partitioned into two distinct stochastic processes. The first process describes the coarse-grained, time-dependent internal self-velocity generated by a set of independent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, independent of the external field. This internal mechanism provides the initial velocity for the particle to diffuse within the fluid, which is modeled via a modified generalized Langevin equation as the second process. We find that the system exhibits spontaneous fluctuations in the diffusive velocity magnitude due to the internal mechanism; however, as expected, these momentary fluctuations decay at long times. Finally, the internal propulsion velocity magnitude in spherical coordinates is derived, accompanied by simulations of the different magnitudes for both the sphere and the disk, the latter following established equations in polar coordinates.