title: Do cyanobacteria swim using traveling surface waves?
abstract: Bacteria that swim without the benefit of flagella might do so by generating longitudinal or transverse surface waves. For example, swimming speeds of order 25 microns/s are expected for a spherical cell propagating longitudinal waves of 0.2 micron length, 0.02 micron amplitude, and 160 microns/s speed. This problem was solved earlier by mathematicians who were interested in the locomotion of ciliates and who considered the undulations of the envelope swept out by ciliary tips. A new solution is given for spheres propagating sinusoidal waveforms rather than Legendre polynomials. The earlier work is reviewed and possible experimental tests are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, California State University at Monterey Bay, Seaside 93933, USA.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ehlers
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montgomery
mesh_terms: D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement