title: Self-propelled particle transport in regular arrays of rigid asymmetric obstacles.
abstract: We report numerical results which show the achievement of net transport of self-propelled particles (SPPs) in the presence of a two-dimensional regular array of convex, either symmetric or asymmetric, rigid obstacles. The repulsive interparticle (soft disks) and particle-obstacle interactions present no alignment rule. We find that SPPs present a vortex-type motion around convex symmetric obstacles even in the absence of hydrodynamic effects. Such a motion is not observed for a single SPP, but is a consequence of the collective motion of SPPs around the obstacles. A steady particle current is spontaneously established in an array of nonsymmetric convex obstacles (which presents no cavity in which particles may be trapped), and in the absence of an external field. Our results are mainly a consequence of the tendency of the self-propelled particles to attach to solid surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará, Faculdade de Física, ICEN, Avenida Augusto Correa 1, Guamá, 66075-110 Belém, Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabricio Q
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Potiguar
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Caixa Postal 6030, Campus do Pici, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Farias
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Caixa Postal 6030, Campus do Pici, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion