Effects of thermal fluctuations and fluid compressibility on hydrodynamic synchronization of microrotors at finite oscillatory Reynolds number: a multiparticle collision dynamics simulation study

We investigate the emergent dynamical behavior of hydrodynamically coupled microrotors by means of multiparticle collision dynamics (MPC) simulations. The two rotors are confined in a plane and move along circles driven by active forces. Comparing simulations to theoretical results based on linearized hydrodynamics, we demonstrate that time-dependent hydrodynamic interactions lead to synchronization of the rotational motion. Thermal noise implies large fluctuations of the phase-angle difference between the rotors, but synchronization prevails and the ensemble-averaged time dependence of the phase-angle difference agrees well with analytical predictions. Moreover, we demonstrate that compressibility effects lead to longer synchronization times. In addition, the relevance of the inertia terms of the Navier-Stokes equation are discussed, specifically the linear unsteady acceleration term characterized by the oscillatory Reynolds number Re-T. We illustrate the continuous breakdown of synchronization with the Reynolds number Re-T, in analogy to the continuous breakdown of the scallop theorem with decreasing Reynolds number.