title: Spiral diffusion of rotating self-propellers with stochastic perturbation.
abstract: Translationally diffusive behavior arising from the combination of orientational diffusion and powered motion at microscopic scales is a known phenomenon, but the peculiarities of the evolution of expected position conditioned on initial position and orientation have been neglected. A theory is given of the spiral motion of the mean trajectory depending upon propulsion speed, angular velocity, orientational diffusion, and rate of random chirality reversal. We demonstrate the experimental accessibility of this effect using both tadpole-like and Janus sphere dimer rotating motors. Sensitivity of the mean trajectory to the kinematic parameters suggest that it may be a useful way to determine those parameters.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.|Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nourhani
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ebbens
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA.|Center for Bioengineering Innovation, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gibbs
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.|Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Lammert