A novel approach to chemotaxis: active particles guided by internal clocks

Abstract

Motivated by the observation of non-exponential run-time distributions of bacterial swimmers, we propose a minimal phenomenological model for taxis of active particles whose motion is controlled by an internal clock. The ticking of the clock depends on an external concentration field, e.g. a chemical substance. We demonstrate that these particles can detect concentration gradients and respond to them by moving up- or down-gradient depending on the clock design, albeit measurements of these fields are purely local in space and instantaneous in time. Altogether, our results open a new route in the study of directional navigation, by showing that the use of a clock to control motility actions represents a generic and versatile toolbox to engineer behavioral responses to external cues, such as light, chemical, or temperature gradients.