Anomalous Velocity Distributions in Active Brownian Suspensions
Publication Date
2013
Description
Large-scale simulations and analytical theory have been combined to obtain the nonequilibrium velocity distribution, f(v), of randomly accelerated particles in suspension. The simulations are based on an event-driven algorithm, generalized to include friction. They reveal strongly anomalous but largely universal distributions, which are independent of volume fraction and collision processes, which suggests a one-particle model should capture all the essential features. We have formulated this one-particle model and solved it analytically in the limit of strong damping, where we find that f (v) decays as 1/v for multiple decades, eventually crossing over to a Gaussian decay for the largest velocities. Many particle simulations and numerical solution of the one-particle model agree for all values of the damping.
Journal
Physical Review E
Volume
88
Issue
2
First Page
022138
Department
Physics & Astronomy
Link to Published Version
Recommended Citation
Fiege, Andrea; Vollmayr-Lee, Benjamin; and Zippelius, Annette. "Anomalous Velocity Distributions in Active Brownian Suspensions." Physical Review E (2013) : 022138.