After colliding with a surface, microswimmers reside there during the detention time. They accumulate and may form complex structures such as biofilms. We introduce a general framework to calculate the distribution of detention times using the method of first-passage times and study how rotational noise and hydrodynamic interactions influence the escape from a surface. We compare generic swimmer models to the simple active Brownian particle. While the respective detention times of source dipoles are smaller, the ones of pullers are larger by up to several orders of magnitude, and pushers show both trends. We apply our results to the more realistic squirmer model, for which we use lubrication theory, and validate them by simulations with multiparticle collision dynamics.

• Received 2 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.038101