Driven Anisotropic Diffusion at Boundaries: Noise Rectification and Particle Sorting

Driven Anisotropic Diffusion at Boundaries : Noise Rectification and Particle Sorting

Bo, Stefano (author): Stockholms universitet,KTH,Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics NORDITA,Stockholm Univ, Roslagstullsbacken 23, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.,Nordiska institutet för teoretisk fysik (Nordita)

Eichhorn, Ralf (author): Stockholms universitet,KTH,Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics NORDITA,Nordiska institutet för teoretisk fysik (Nordita)

(creator_code:org_t)

American Physical Society, 2017
2017
English.
In: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 119:6

Related links:: https://urn.kb.se/re...; show more...; https://doi.org/10.1...; https://urn.kb.se/re...; show less...

Abstract Subject headings

We study the diffusive dynamics of a Brownian particle in the proximity of a flat surface under nonequilibrium conditions, which are created by an anisotropic thermal environment with different temperatures being active along distinct spatial directions. By presenting the exact time-dependent solution of the Fokker-Planck equation for this problem, we demonstrate that the interplay between anisotropic diffusion and hard-core interaction with the plain wall rectifies the thermal fluctuations and induces directed particle transport parallel to the surface, without any deterministic forces being applied in that direction. Based on current micromanipulation technologies, we suggest a concrete experimental setup to observe this novel noise-induced transport mechanism. We furthermore show that it is sensitive to particle characteristics, such that this setup can be used for sorting particles of different sizes.

About the subject

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