Anomolous rheology of puller-type microswimmer suspensions

We explore the mechanism behind the anomalous rheology of puller-type microswimmer suspensions through direct hydrodynamic simulations. Our simulations demonstrate that swimmers' orientations near boundary walls predominantly control the overall swimming states and the resultant rheological properties. Hydrodynamic interactions due to specific flow fields characteristic of pullers cause the swimmers to line up vertically, particularly close to the walls where swimmer density peaks, enhancing the polar order of collective motion. Furthermore, the swimming directions near the walls depend significantly on the aspect ratio of the swimmer's body: rod-like swimmers tend to swim toward the flow direction, while swimmers with spherical bodies swim against the flow direction. The present results contrast with our previous simulations of suspensions of pusher-type swimmers, where weak orientation order in bulk regions determines the steady-state properties. Furthermore, these findings highlight that the rheological properties of active suspensions vary widely depending on the swimmers' properties, such as their shapes and swimming mechanisms.