Ballistic to diffusive transition for swimmers in a periodic vortex array

We study the transport of rigid ellipsoidal swimmers in a periodic vortex array via numerical simulation and dynamical systems analysis. Via ensemble simulations, we show the counterintuitive result that slower swimming speeds can generate fast ballistic transport, while faster swimming speeds generate chaotic and diffusive transport, which is inherently slower in the long run. To explain this, we use the symmetry of the flow to construct a time-reversible Poincaré return map on a two-dimensional surface of section in phase space. For sufficiently small swimming speeds, we find stable periodic orbits on the surface of section surrounded by invariant tori, similar to Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser curves. Trajectories within these tori are ballistic. As the swimming speed is increased, the periodic orbits undergo a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations that destroys the ballistic tori. These bifurcations exactly match the ballistic to diffusive transition from the ensemble simulations. Additional ensemble simulations are used to test the robustness of these results to noise. The ballistic behavior is destroyed as the strength of rotational diffusion increases. However, we estimate that the ballistic tori might still be seen in experiments.