Stability and spatial autocorrelations of suspensions of microswimmers with heterogeneous spin

Abstract

In this paper, suspensions of active swimmer-rotor particles have been mathematically modeled by extending a previously developed stochastic kinetic theory to analyze heterogeneous collections of microswimmers and microrotors with multiple spin velocity populations. The paper uses this modeling approach to derive insight on large-scale properties, such as suspension instabilities and spatial correlations of the active particles, and highlights the role of active particle rotations on the behavior of the suspension. A secondary aim is to demonstrate an analytical approach for understanding the emergence of patterns that have been observed for self-propelled micro-particles using numerical and lab experiments.