One-dimensional model for chemotaxis with hard-core interactions.

Abstract

In this paper we consider a biased velocity jump process with excluded-volume interactions for chemotaxis, where we account for the size of each particle. Starting with a system of N individual hard rod particles in one dimension, we derive a nonlinear kinetic model using two different approaches. The first approach is a systematic derivation for small occupied fraction of particles based on the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The second approach, based on a compression method that exploits the single-file motion of hard core particles, does not have the limitation of a small occupied fraction but requires constant tumbling rates. We validate our nonlinear model with numerical simulations, comparing its solutions with the corresponding noninteracting linear model as well as stochastic simulations of the underlying particle system.