title: Chemotaxis driven instability of a confined bacterial suspension.
abstract: A suspension of bacteria in a thin channel or film subject to a gradient in the concentration of a chemoattractant, will develop, in the absence of an imposed fluid flow, a steady bacteria concentration field that depends exponentially on cross-stream position. Above a critical bacteria concentration, this quiescent base state is unstable to a steady convective motion driven by the active stresses induced by the bacteria's swimming. Unlike previously identified long-wavelength instabilities of active fluids, this instability results from coupling of the bacteria concentration field with the disturbance flow.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Kasyap
authors.forename: Donald L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D008954:Models, Biological; D013535:Suspensions
chemical_list: D013535:Suspensions