Thermal ratchets with symmetric potentials

It is shown that the directed transport of Brownian particles can be induced by thermal ratchets with symmetric, two-state fluctuating potentials, contorary to an earlier belief that at least three states are needed for the potential to fluctuate if the potential is symmetric. It is proved that the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 1999-12, Vol.68 (12), p.3759-3762
Main Authors: KANADA, R, SASAKI, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brownian motion
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Exact sciences and technology
Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and brownian motion
Materials science
Physics
Specific materials
Specific materials: fabrication, treatment, testing and analysis
Statistical physics, thermodynamics, and nonlinear dynamical systems
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Summary:It is shown that the directed transport of Brownian particles can be induced by thermal ratchets with symmetric, two-state fluctuating potentials, contorary to an earlier belief that at least three states are needed for the potential to fluctuate if the potential is symmetric. It is proved that the potential must lack the symmetry of glide reflection in order for the directed movement of particles to occur in a two-state ratchet. Based on this finding, several models with symmetric potentials are constructed to demonstrate the occurrence of the particle flow.
ISSN:0031-9015
1347-4073
DOI:10.1143/jpsj.68.3759