Random motion of a circle microswimmer in a random environment

We simulate the dynamics of a single circle microswimmer exploring a disordered array of fixed obstacles. The interplay of two different types of randomness, quenched disorder and stochastic noise, is investigated to unravel their impact on the transport properties. We compute lines of isodiffusivit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Oleksandr Chepizhko, Thomas Franosch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2020-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab9708
Description
Summary:We simulate the dynamics of a single circle microswimmer exploring a disordered array of fixed obstacles. The interplay of two different types of randomness, quenched disorder and stochastic noise, is investigated to unravel their impact on the transport properties. We compute lines of isodiffusivity as a function of the rotational diffusion coefficient and the obstacle density. We find that increasing noise or disorder tends to amplify diffusion, yet for large randomness the competition leads to a strong suppression of transport. We rationalize both the suppression and amplification of transport by comparing the relevant time scales of the free motion to the mean period between collisions with obstacles.
ISSN:1367-2630