RESUMEN
A binary mixture of particles interacting via long-ranged repulsive forces is studied in gravity by computer simulation and theory. The more repulsive A-particles create a depletion zone of less repulsive B-particles around them reminiscent to a bubble. Applying Archimedes' principle effectively to this bubble, an A-particle can be lifted in a fluid background of B-particles. This "depletion bubble" mechanism explains and predicts a brazil-nut effect where the heavier A-particles float on top of the lighter B-particles. It also implies an effective attraction of an A-particle towards a hard container bottom wall which leads to boundary layering of A-particles. Additionally, we have studied a periodic inversion of gravity causing perpetuous mutual penetration of the mixture in a slit geometry. In this nonequilibrium case of time-dependent gravity, the boundary layering persists. Our results are based on computer simulations and density functional theory of a two-dimensional binary mixture of colloidal repulsive dipoles. The predicted effects also occur for other long-ranged repulsive interactions and in three spatial dimensions. They are therefore verifiable in settling experiments on dipolar or charged colloidal mixtures as well as in charged granulates and dusty plasmas.
RESUMEN
A discrete chemotactic predator-prey model is proposed in which the prey secrets a diffusing chemical which is sensed by the predator and vice versa. Two dynamical states corresponding to catching and escaping are identified and it is shown that steady hunting is unstable. For the escape process, the predator-prey distance is diffusive for short times but exhibits a transient subdiffusive behavior which scales as a power law t¹/³ with time t and ultimately crosses over to diffusion again. This allows us to classify the motility and dynamics of various predatory microbes and phagocytes. In particular, there is a distinct region in the parameter space where they prove to be infallible predators.