Self-propelled particles with fluctuating speed and direction of motion in two dimensions

Abstract

We study general aspects of active motion with fluctuations in the speed and the direction of motion in two dimensions. We consider the case in which fluctuations in the speed are not correlated to fluctuations in the direction of motion, and assume that both processes can be described by independent characteristic time scales. We show the occurrence of a complex transient that can exhibit a series of alternating regimes of motion, for two different angular dynamics which correspond to persistent and directed random walks. We also show additive corrections to the diffusion coefficient. The characteristic time scales are also exposed in the velocity autocorrelation, which is a sum of exponential forms. © 2007 The American Physical Society.