Active depletion torque between two passive rods.

Abstract

The active depletion torque experienced by two anisotropic objects in an active bath is a conceptional generalization of the equilibrium entropic torque. Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we compute the active depletion torque suffered by two passive rods immersed in an ensemble of active Brownian particles. Our results demonstrate that the active depletion torque is qualitatively different from its passive counterpart. Interestingly, we find that the active depletion torque can be greatly affected by the external constraint applied on the rotational degree of freedom of the rods, and even the direction may be changed with the orientational constraint, which is in contrast to the equilibrium depletion torque. The main reason for the remarkable features of the active depletion torque is that the active particles can significantly accumulate in the vicinity of the rods due to persistent self-propulsion, which is sensitively dependent on the constraint strength and the rod configurations. Our findings could be relevant for understanding the self-assembly and dynamics of anisotropic macromolecules in living environments.