Virial stress in systems of active Brownian particles in the presence of translational and rotational inertia

Abstract

We elucidate the stress in a system of active Brownian particles augmented with translational and rotational inertia (ABP+TRI). Stress tensors are derived for periodic systems as well as systems confined between walls by employing Lagrange’s equations of motion of the first kind for the rotational motion. Using Langevin simulations of an ideal active gas in two dimensions, we confirm the existence of an equation of state for periodic systems that depends on translational and rotational inertia in general. Confinement implies a strong polarization of the propulsion direction near a wall and an enhanced density, both of which increase with increasing rotational inertia. This affects the local stress tensor normal to the confining walls, leading to a breakdown of the equation of state. Yet the local stress in the bulk part of the confined systems is identical with that of the periodic system. Importantly, for both kinds of boundary conditions, the so-called swim stress is not included in the local stress tensor; therefore, in general, the swim stress is not representative of the stress in systems of ABP+TRIs.