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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Hydrodynamic attraction and hindered diffusion govern first-passage times of swimming microorganisms

Yanis Baouche1, Magali Le Goff2, Thomas Franosch2, and Christina Kurzthaler1,3,4,*

  • *Contact author: ckurzthaler@pks.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L022060 – Published 29 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qdl8-kk9h

Abstract

The motion of microorganisms in their natural habitat is strongly influenced by their propulsion mechanisms, geometrical constraints, and random fluctuations. Here, we study numerically the first-passage-time (FPT) statistics of microswimmers, modeled as force dipoles, to reach a no-slip wall. Our results demonstrate that hindered diffusion near the wall can increase the median FPT by orders of magnitude compared to “dry” agents, while the intricate interplay of active motion and hydrodynamic attraction speeds up the arrival at large Péclet numbers (measuring the importance of self-propulsion relative to diffusion). Strikingly, it leads to a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the dipole strength, where pushers reach the wall significantly faster than pullers. The latter become slower at an intermediate dipole strength and are more sensitive to their initial orientation, displaying a highly anisotropic behavior.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L022060– Published 29 June, 2026
  • Received 22 September 2025
  • Accepted 5 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by Max Planck Society.

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