Oscillatory Active Brownian Motion: A Minimal Model for Sperm Dynamics

[2607.12158] Oscillatory Active Brownian Motion: A Minimal Model for Sperm Dynamics Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Condensed Matter > Soft Condensed Matter arXiv:2607.12158 (cond-mat) [Submitted on 13 Jul 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 21 Aug 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: Oscillatory Active Brownian Motion: A Minimal Model for Sperm Dynamics Authors: Adrian Pacheco-Pozo , Arturo Matamoros Volante , Pilar Ameijeiras , Mariano G. Buffone , Diego Krapf View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Active biological microswimmers typically combine persistent self-propulsion with cyclic motion generated by flagellar or ciliary beating. However, standard active Brownian motion (ABM) does not explicitly account for these intrinsic oscillations. This limitation is particularly relevant for sperm cells, whose transport depends not only on directional persistence and stochastic reorientation but also on periodic head motion. Here we introduce oscillatory active Brownian motion (OABM), a minimal extension of ABM in which the swimmer orientation undergoes directional diffusion while being modulated by a periodic angular drive. The model yields analytical expressions for experimentally relevant observables, including the time-averaged mean-squared displacement, velocity autocorrelation function, and transverse excursion amplitude. A central prediction is a crossover between two ballistic regimes: short-time motion governed by the swimming velocity and an intermediate regime with a reduced, oscillation-averaged effective velocity determined by the angular beat amplitude. Using trajectories of human sperm, we infer model parameters from standard motility measures. The model quantitatively reproduces both single-cell trajectories and population-level dynamics under control conditions and following induction of hyperactivation. Overall, OABM provides a compact active-matter framework that links measurable flagellar kinematics to coarse-grained transport, enabling a description of sperm motility across different physiological states. Comments: 21 pages, 5 figures Subjects: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) ; Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) Cite as: arXiv:2607.12158 [cond-mat.soft] (or arXiv:2607.12158v2 [cond-mat.soft] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.12158 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Adrian Pacheco-Pozo [ view email ] [v1] Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:05:32 UTC (1,942 KB) [v2] Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:54:01 UTC (2,123 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: cond-mat.soft < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-07 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.dis-nn References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

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