Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36888698›Full record

ArticleScience advances2023

A simple catch: Fluctuations enable hydrodynamic trapping of microrollers by obstacles.

Ernest B van der Wee, Brendan C Blackwell, Florencio Balboa Usabiaga, Andrey Sokolov, Isaiah T Katz, Blaise Delmotte, Michelle M Driscoll

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Rolling vesicles: From confined rotational flows to surface-enabled motion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ernest B van der WeeDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0139-4019
Brendan C BlackwellDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Florencio Balboa UsabiagaBasque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM), Mazarredo 14, E48009 Bilbao, Basque Country-Spain.ORCID 0000-0003-0130-3532
Andrey SokolovMaterials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA.
Isaiah T KatzDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5166-4726
Blaise DelmotteLadHyX, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau 91120, France.ORCID 0000-0002-9609-1175
Michelle M DriscollDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0930-9579

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It is known that obstacles can hydrodynamically trap bacteria and synthetic microswimmers in orbits, where the trapping time heavily depends on the swimmer flow field and noise is needed to escape the trap. Here, we use experiments and simulations to investigate the trapping of microrollers by obstacles. Microrollers are rotating particles close to a bottom surface, which have a prescribed propulsion direction imposed by an external rotating magnetic field. The flow field that drives their motion is quite different from previously studied swimmers. We found that the trapping time can be controlled by modifying the obstacle size or the colloid-obstacle repulsive potential. We detail the mechanisms of the trapping and find two remarkable features: The microroller is confined in the wake of the obstacle, and it can only enter the trap with Brownian motion. While noise is usually needed to escape traps in dynamical systems, here, we show that it is the only means to reach the hydrodynamic attractor.

Identifiers

PMID36888698
PMCPMC9995068

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.