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Wetting dynamics by mixtures of fast and slow self-propelled particles (2301.01856v1)
Published 5 Jan 2023 in cond-mat.soft and physics.bio-ph
Abstract: We study active surface wetting using a minimal model of bacteria that takes into account the intrinsic motility diversity of living matter. A mixture of "fast" and "slow" self-propelled Brownian particles is considered in the presence of a wall. The evolution of the wetting layer thickness shows an overshoot before stationarity and its composition evolves in two stages, equilibrating after a slow elimination of excess particles. Non-monotonic evolutions are shown to arise from delayed avalanches towards the dilute phase combined with the emergence of a transient particle front.