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Complex self-propelled rings: a minimal model for cell motility.

Clara Abaurrea Velasco1, Sepehr Dehghani Ghahnaviyeh, Hossein Nejat Pishkenari

  • 1Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics, Institute of Complex Systems and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany. c.abaurrea@fz-juelich.de t.auth@fz-juelich.de g.gompper@fz-juelich.de.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers created complex self-propelled particles from rods within rings. These particles exhibit diverse cell-like motility, including random walks and circling, advancing active matter studies.

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Area of Science:

  • Physics
  • Soft Matter Physics
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Collective behavior is a hallmark of active matter, observed in systems ranging from vibrated disks to cytoskeletal filaments.
  • Understanding the emergent properties of complex active particles is crucial for advancing the field.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To construct and investigate the dynamics of complex self-propelled particles.
  • To characterize the motility patterns of these novel particles, comparing them to existing models.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing a system of quasi two-dimensional penetrable self-propelled rods confined within rigid rings.
  • Modeling steric interactions between rods and with the ring using a separation-shifted Lennard-Jones potential.
  • Simulating scenarios with rods attached to the ring or moving freely within it.

Main Results:

  • The constructed complex particles exhibit diverse motility behaviors.
  • Observed motions include random walks, persistent motion, circling, and run-and-circle patterns.
  • These behaviors are analogous to cell-like motility.

Conclusions:

  • Complex self-propelled particles can be engineered from simpler components.
  • The motility of these particles extends beyond simple active Brownian motion, displaying richer, cell-like dynamics.
  • This work provides a new model system for studying active matter and biological motility.