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Free keywords:
Condensed Matter, Soft Condensed Matter, cond-mat.soft
Abstract:
Magnetotactic bacteria moving on circular orbits form hydrodynamically bound
states. When close to a surface and with the tilting of the field in a
direction close to the perpendicular to this surface these swarms move
perpendicularly to the tilting angle. We describe quantitatively this motion by
a continuum model with couple stress arising from the torques produced by the
rotary motors of the amphitrichous magnetotactic bacteria. The model not only
correctly describes the change of direction of swarm motion while inverting the
tangential field but also predicts reasonable value of the torque produced by
the rotary motors.
