Target search kinetics of self-propelled particles in a confining domain

We present a numerical investigation of the search kinetics of self-propelled particles (SPPs) to a target located at the center or at the boundary of a confining domain. When searching a target located at the center of a circular confining domain, the search efficiency of SPPs is improved compared to that of Brownian particles if the rotational diffusion is not too slow. In this case, the mean search time τ could be minimized with proper combinations of the characteristic rotation time τθ and the self-propulsion velocity v0. It is further shown to be a consequence of the interplay between the enhanced diffusion and the thigmotactism (boundary-following behavior) of SPPs due to the self-propulsion. However, for a target located at the boundary of the circular confining domain, we find that the search process is continuing to be accelerated with increasing τθ or v0. Our results highlight the role of the target position in the search kinetics, and open up new opportunities to optimize the search process of SPPs by taking accurate controls over their motions.