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    Dynamics of Enhanced Tracer Diffusion in Suspensions of Swimming Eukaryotic Microorganisms

    Kyriacos C. Leptos1, Jeffrey S. Guasto2, J. P. Gollub1,2, Adriana I. Pesci1, and Raymond E. Goldstein1

    • 1Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom
    • 2Department of Physics, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania 19041, USA

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 198103 – Published 5 November, 2009

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.198103

    Abstract

    In contexts such as suspension feeding in marine ecologies there is an interplay between Brownian motion of nonmotile particles and their advection by flows from swimming microorganisms. As a laboratory realization, we study passive tracers in suspensions of eukaryotic swimmers, the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. While the cells behave ballistically over short intervals, the tracers behave diffusively, with a time-dependent but self-similar probability distribution function of displacements consisting of a Gaussian core and robust exponential tails. We emphasize the role of flagellar beating in creating oscillatory flows that exceed Brownian motion far from each swimmer.

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