The turning of magnetotactic bacteria |
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Authors: | N G van Kampen |
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Institution: | (1) Institute for Theoretical Physics, Princetonplein 5, Utrecht, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | A magnetotactic bacterium aligns itself along the magnetic field. When the field is reversed the bacterium makes a U-turn in the surrounding water. The turning is described by a Fokker-Planck equation for the angle , which is singular at the endpoints =0 and = . The time needed for turning can be found exactly as a first-passage time. The probability distribution itself can be found in terms of an approximation for low temperature. To cover the regions near the endpoints singular perturbation theory is needed. |
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Keywords: | Bacteria singular Fokker-Planck equation |
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