Large-Scale Collective Behavior of Swimming Microorganisms at High Concentrations

Andrey Sokolov, Igor S. Aranson, John O. Kessler and Raymond E. Goldstein
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Andrey Sokolov: Argonne National Laboratory
Igor S. Aranson: Argonne National Laboratory
John O. Kessler: University of Arizona, Department of Physics
Raymond E. Goldstein: University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics

A chapter in Traffic and Granular Flow ’07, 2009, pp 455-470 from Springer

Abstract: Summary Suspensions of motile bacteria such as Bacillus subtilus or E. coli form a dynamical state exhibiting extended spatio-temporal organization at concentrations near the maximum allowed by steric repulsion. The viscous liquid into which locomotive energy of individual microorganisms is transferred also carries interactions that drive the self-organization. The concentration dependence of collective swimming state correlation length is probed here with a novel technique (bacterial crowd control) that herds bacteria into condensed populations of adjustable concentration. For the free-standing thin-film geometry employed, the correlation length varies smoothly and monotonically through the transition from individual to collective behavior. Using insights from these experiments, we develop a specific model incorporating hydrodynamic interactions in thin-film geometries and show by numerical studies that it displays large scale persistently recurring vortices, as actually observed.

Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-540-77074-9_51

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-77074-9_51

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