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Inertial Self-Caging: Dynamics of Macroscopic Swimmers at Moderate Reynolds Number Sustaining Chemical Wake Resonance

Self-propelled phoretic swimmers are generally studied in the laminar flow regime, where their low speed renders inertial effects negligible and trajectories highly predictable. This research tackles the challenge of propulsion in the inertial regime, at moderate Reynolds numbers (100 < Re < 200), where fluid dynamics becomes non-linear. By using a chemically driven macroscopic hydrogel this work demonstrates, through experiments and modeling, the existence of stable resonant states under confined geometry: as the swimmer circles, it interacts with its own lasting chemical wake. This chemical self-feedback creates a complex, stable motion characterized by both universal exponential speed decay with superimposed significant periodic speed oscillations. Furthermore, a critical threshold speed is identified, where the system abruptly transitions from the resonant oscillatory regime to a stochastic stop & go behavior. These findings provide a fundamental understanding of how chemical fields, hydrodynamic inertia, and confinement couple to determine the motion properties of high-speed active matter.