Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 61: Anomalous Diffusion in Complex Environments (Focus Session)

BP 61.1: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 10. März 2016, 11:30–11:45, H45

Apparent Super-Diffusion Induced by Trail-Mediated Self-Interaction of Microorganisms — Till Kranz, Anatolij Gelimson, and •Ramin Golestanian — Rudolf-Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford

Many microorganisms, namely surface bound bacteria [1] and amoeboid slime moulds [2], leave trails of sticky substances. We will present a simple model of a self-propelled microorganism whose propulsion force depends on the concentration of trail material [3]. The trail-mediated self-interactions of a single microorganism and its own trail profoundly alter the dynamics. Above a critical interaction strength with the trail a discontinuous localisation transition emerges. Close to the transition, the orientational dynamics becomes super-diffusive and, in fact, super-ballistic, on a diverging timescale. Interestingly, no such super-diffusive regime appears for the translational dynamics. We will discuss the implications for real biological systems and the interplay of their finite timescales with the emergent diverging timescale.

[1] K. Zhao et al., Nature 497, 388 (2013)
[2] B. Rodiek and M. J. B. Hauser, EPJ ST 224, 1199 (2015)
[3] W. T. Kranz, A. Gelimson, and R. Golestanian, arXiv:1504.06814