Hydrodynamical random walker with chemotactic memory

Abstract

A three-dimensional hydrodynamical model for a micro random walker is combined with the idea of chemotactic signaling network of E. coli. Diffusion exponents, orientational correlation functions and their dependence on the geometrical and dynamical parameters of the system are analyzed numerically. Because of the chemotactic memory, the walker shows superdiffusing displacements in all directions with the largest diffusion exponent for a direction along the food gradient. Mean square displacements and orientational correlation functions show that the chemotactic memory washes out all the signatures due to the geometrical asymmetry of the walker and statistical properties are asymmetric only with respect to the direction of food gradient. For different values of the memory time, the Chemotactic index (CI) is also calculated.