Shape and displacement fluctuations in soft vesicles filled by active particles

Matteo Paoluzzi, Roberto Di Leonardo, M. Cristina Marchetti, Luca Angelani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate numerically the dynamics of shape and displacement fluctuations of two-dimensional flexible vesicles filled with active particles. At low concentration most of the active particles accumulate at the boundary of the vesicle where positive particle number fluctuations are amplified by trapping, leading to the formation of pinched spots of high density, curvature and pressure. At high concentration the active particles cover the vesicle boundary almost uniformly, resulting in fairly homogeneous pressure and curvature, and nearly circular vesicle shape. The change between polarized and spherical shapes is driven by the number of active particles. The center-of-mass of the vesicle performs a persistent random walk with a long time diffusivity that is strongly enhanced for elongated active particles due to orientational correlations in their direction of propulsive motion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number34146
JournalScientific reports
Volume6
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 28 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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