Hydroelastic scattering and trapping of microswimmers
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Deformable boundaries are omnipresent in the habitats of swimming microorganisms, leading to intricate hydroelastic couplings. Employing a perturbation theory, valid for small deformations, we study the swimming dynamics of pushers and pullers near instantaneously deforming boundaries, endowed with a bending rigidity and surface tension. Our results reveal that pushers can either reorient away from the boundary, leading to overall hydroelastic scattering, or become trapped by the boundary, akin to the enhanced trapping found for pullers. These findings demonstrate that the complex hydroelastic interactions can generate behaviors that are in striking contrast to swimming near planar walls.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | L042005 |
| Journal | Physical Review Research |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2025 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |