| Issue |
EPL
Volume 86, Number 6, June 2009
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 60002 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/86/60002 | |
| Published online | 30 June 2009 | |
Sedimentation, trapping, and rectification of dilute bacteria
SUPA, School of Physics And Astronomy - University of Edinburgh - JCMB Kings Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK, EU
Corresponding author: Julien.Tailleur@ed.ac.uk
Received:
27
March
2009
Accepted:
26
May
2009
The run-and-tumble dynamics of bacteria, as exhibited by E. coli, offers a simple experimental realization of non-Brownian, yet diffusive, particles. Here we present some analytic and numerical results for models of the ideal (low-density) limit in which the particles have no hydrodynamic or other interactions and hence undergo independent motions. We address three cases: sedimentation under gravity; confinement by a harmonic external potential; and rectification by a strip of “funnel gates" which we model by a zone in which tumble rate depends on swim direction. We compare our results with recent experimental and simulation literature and highlight similarities and differences with the diffusive motion of colloidal particles.
PACS: 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion / 87.10.Mn – Stochastic modeling / 87.17.Jj – Cell locomotion, chemotaxis
© EPLA, 2009
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