Hydrodynamic Fluctuations and Instabilities in Ordered Suspensions of Self-Propelled Particles
Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: We construct the hydrodynamic equations for suspensions of self-propelled particles (SPPs) with spontaneous orientational order, and make a number of striking, testable predictions: (i) Nematic SPP suspensions are always absolutely unstable at long wavelengths. (ii) SPP suspensions support novel propagating modes at long wavelengths, coupling orientation, flow, and concentration. (iii) In a wave number regime accessible only in low Reynolds number systems such as bacteria, polar-ordered suspensions are invariably convectively unstable. (iv) The variance in the number N of particles, divided by the mean <N>, diverges as <N >(2/3 ) in polar-ordered SPP suspensions.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: R. Aditi Simha, Sriram Ramaswamy
Institution: Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
Language: English
Topic: Micro and Nano Robotics
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2090370210