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Active polar fluid flow in finite droplets

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  • Published: 18 February 2014
  • volume 37, Article number: 8 (2014)
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The European Physical Journal E Aims and scope Submit manuscript
Active polar fluid flow in finite droplets
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  • Carl A. Whitfield1,
  • Davide Marenduzzo2,
  • Raphaël Voituriez3,4 &
  • …
  • Rhoda J. Hawkins1 
  • 1072 Accesses

  • 29 Citations

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Abstract.

We present a continuum level analytical model of a droplet of active contractile fluid consisting of filaments and motors. We calculate the steady state flows that result from a splayed polarisation of the filaments. We account for interaction with the external medium by imposing a viscous friction at the fixed droplet boundary. We then show that the droplet has non-zero force dipole and quadrupole moments, the latter of which is essential for self-propelled motion of the droplet at low Reynolds' number. Therefore, this calculation describes a simple mechanism for the motility of a droplet of active contractile fluid embedded in a three-dimensional environment, which is relevant to cell migration in confinement (for example, embedded within a gel or tissue). Our analytical results predict how the system depends on various parameters such as the effective friction coefficient, the phenomenological activity parameter and the splay of the imposed polarisation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, S3 7RH, Sheffield, UK

    Carl A. Whitfield & Rhoda J. Hawkins

  2. SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, EH9 3JZ, Edinburgh, UK

    Davide Marenduzzo

  3. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Matière Condensée, UMR 7600, Université Pierre et Marie Curie/CNRS, Paris, France

    Raphaël Voituriez

  4. Laboratoire Jean Perrin, FRE 3231 CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75255, Paris Cedex, France

    Raphaël Voituriez

Authors
  1. Carl A. Whitfield
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  2. Davide Marenduzzo
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  3. Raphaël Voituriez
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  4. Rhoda J. Hawkins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl A. Whitfield.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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Cite this article

A. Whitfield, C., Marenduzzo, D., Voituriez, R. et al. Active polar fluid flow in finite droplets. Eur. Phys. J. E 37, 8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2014-14008-3

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  • Received: 24 October 2013

  • Revised: 17 December 2013

  • Accepted: 23 January 2014

  • Published: 18 February 2014

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2014-14008-3

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Keywords

  • Living systems: Biological Matter
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