Bridging the microscopic and the hydrodynamic in active filament solutions

T. B. Liverpool*, M. C. Marchetti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Hydrodynamic equations for an isotropic solution of active polar filaments are derived from a microscopic mean-field model of the forces exchanged between motors and filaments. We find that a spatial dependence of the motor stepping rate along the filament is essential to drive bundle formation. A number of differences arise as compared to hydrodynamics derived (earlier) from a mesoscopic model where relative filament velocities were obtained on the basis of symmetry considerations. Due to the anisotropy of filament diffusion, motors are capable of generating net filament motion relative to the solvent. The effect of this new term on the stability of the homogeneous state is investigated.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)846-852
Number of pages7
JournalEPL
Volume69
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2005

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