SWIMMING OF MICRO-ORGANISMS VIEWED FROM STRING AND MEMBRANE THEORIES

Swimming of micro-organisms is studied from a viewpoint of extended objects (strings and membranes) swimming in the incompressible fluid of low Reynolds number. The flagellated motion is analyzed in two-dimensional fluid, by using the method developed in the ciliated motion with the Joukowski transformation. Discussion is given on the conserved charges and the algebra which are associated with the area (volume)-preserving diffeomorphisms giving the swimming motion of micro-organisms. It is also suggested that the N-point string- and membrane-like amplitudes are useful for studying the collective swimming motion of micro-organisms when fluctuation of the vorticity distribution exists in the sticky or rubber-like fluid.