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Scallop Theorem and Swimming at the Mesoscale
M Hubert1, O Trosman1, Y Collard2
1PULS Group, Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Center for Nanostructured Films, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
Abstract:
By comparing theoretical modeling, simulations, and experiments, we show that there exists a swimming regime at low Reynolds numbers solely driven by the inertia of the swimmer itself. This is demonstrated by considering a dumbbell with an asymmetry in coasting time in its two spheres. Despite deforming in a reciprocal fashion, the dumbbell swims by generating a nonreciprocal Stokesian flow, which arises from the asymmetry in coasting times. This asymmetry acts as a second degree of freedom, which allows the scallop theorem to be fulfilled at the mesoscopic scale.
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