Anomalous transport and diffusion phenomena induced by biharmonic forces in deformable potential systems

We study transport properties of an inertial Brownian motor which moves in a deformable Remoissenet-Peyrad periodic potential and is subjected to both a static bias force and time periodic driving biharmonic force. By modifying the shape of the potential, the anomalous transport is identified for a particular set of the system parameters. For a particular potential shape, the mean velocity of a particle is modified by going from negative to positive values according to the external bias force. These features also depend on both the biharmonic parameter and the phase-lag of two signals. A remarkable transition of the negative velocity depending on the shape of the potential is observed. We also focus on the efficiency of the motor and discuss velocity fluctuation. In addition, within selected system parameters, different types of diffusion particle such as subdiffusion, superdiffusion, normal diffusion, ballistic diffusion, hyperdiffusion and dispersionless transport phenomena are generated in the system.     

Diffusion coefficient for a Brownian particle in a periodic field of force: I. Large friction limit

The diffusion tensor for a Brownian particle in a periodic field of force is studied in the strong damping limit, in which the Smoluchowski equation is valid.A general relation between the diffusion tensor and the Smoluchowski “relaxation operator” is derived; the effect of the periodic force, at least in the simplest situation of diagonal and uniform friction, appears as a dressing of the bare particle mass to an effective tensor mass.From this the explicit form of the diffusion coefficient as a functional of the potential energy in the one-dimensional case is obtained, showing a temperature dependence which deviates at high temperatures from a simple Arrhenius behaviour.Finally, the expression for the mobility of the Brownian particle is derived, and by comparison with the expression for the diffusion coefficient the Einstein relation between diffusion and mobility is proved to be satisfied.     

From Ballistic to Diffusive Behavior in Periodic Potentials

The long-time/large-scale, small-friction asymptotic for the one dimensional Langevin equation with a periodic potential is studied in this paper. It is shown that the Freidlin-Wentzell and central limit theorem (homogenization) limits commute. We prove that, in the combined small friction, long-time/large-scale limit the particle position converges weakly to a Brownian motion with a singular diffusion coefficient which we compute explicitly. We show that the same result is valid for a whole one parameter family of space/time rescalings. The proofs of our main results are based on some novel estimates on the resolvent of a hypoelliptic operator.     

Collective motion of polar active particles on a sphere

Collective motion of active particles with polar alignment is investigated on a sphere. We discussed the factors that affect particle swarm motion and define an order parameter that can show the degree of particle swarm motion. In the model, we added a polar alignment strength, along with Gaussian curvature, affecting particles swarm motion. We find that when the force exceeds a certain limit, the order parameter will decrease with the increase of the force. Combined with our definition of order parameter and observation of the model, the reason is that particles begin to move side by side under the influence of polar forces. In addition, the effects of velocity, rotational diffusion coefficient, and packing fraction on particle swarm motion are discussed. It is found that the rotational diffusion coefficient and the packing fraction have a great influence on the clustering motion of particles, while the velocity has little influence on the clustering motion of particles.     

Phonon or electron friction of a quantum heavy particle

Summary In this paper we analyse, with the path integral method, the diffusion of a quantum heavy particle moving in a strongly corrugated periodic potential both in the case when the particle is interacting with a thermal bath of phonons or of electrons. In the first case, the integration over the phonon degrees of freedom is performed exactly and in the large mass limit of the heavy particle it gives rise to an ohmic effective action which includes a nonlocal self-interacting term whose strength is the classical friction coefficient. In the second case, the integration over the electronic degrees of freedom is more difficult; we are able to derive an approximate effective action for the heavy particle in two different limiting cases: i) arbitrary large coupling between heavy particle and electrons and linear dissipation; ii) weak coupling and nonlinear dissipation. In i) we obtain an effective action for the particle equal to that found for the phonons but with a friction coefficient given by that of a classical heavy particle in a fermionic bath. In ii) we obtain a nonlinear, but still ohmic, dissipative term. Using an instanton approach we evaluate the mobility (and the diffusion coefficient) of the particle, whose temperature dependence shows a crossover from diffusive to localized behaviour at a critical value of the friction. Finally we discuss whether the electronic and phononic frictions can reach such a critical value. To speed up publication, the authors have agreed not to receive proofs which have been supervised by the Scientific Committee.     

Quantum Brownian motion in a one-dimensional disordered system

We study the diffusion of a quantum Brownian particle in a one-dimensional periodic potential with substitutional disorder. The particle is coupled to a dissipative environment, which induces a frictional force proportional to the velocity. The dynamics for arbitrary temperature is studied by using Feynman's influence-functional theory. We calculate the mobility to lowest order in the disorder and strength of the periodic potential. It is shown that for weak dissipation the linear mobility, which vanishes atT=0 due to localization effects, may exhibit a maximum and a subsequent minimum with increasing temperature. The relation to the diffusion of heavy particles in metals or doped semiconductors is briefly discussed.     

The rich phenomenology of Brownian particles in nonlinear potential landscapes

Non-interacting Brownian particles obey Langevin equations fulfilling a fluctuation–dissipation relation between friction and thermal noise. Under a linear potential (constant force) Einstein found a relation between diffusion and transport through mobility. In nonlinear potentials this prediction is only satisfied within the limits of very small and large constant external forces. Moreover, other more interesting behaviors do appear, such as: dispersionless transport, sorting, giant diffusion, subdiffusion, superdiffusion, subtransport, etc. All these phenomena depend on the characteristics of the nonlinear potential landscape: periodic or random, the symmetries and boundary conditions. Moreover, the presence of transport is the keystone of most of this phenomenology. In this review, we present numerical simulations illustrating these facts and theoretical analysis when possible.     

Aging properties of an anomalously diffusing particule

We report new results about the two-time dynamics of an anomalously diffusing classical particle, as described by the generalized Langevin equation with a frequency-dependent noise and the associated friction. The noise is defined by its spectral density proportional to ω^δ−1 at low frequencies, with 0<δ<1 (subdiffusion) or 1<δ<2 (superdiffusion). Using Laplace analysis, we derive analytic expressions in terms of Mittag–Leffler functions for the correlation functions of the velocity and of the displacement. While the velocity thermalizes at large times (slowly, in contrast to the standard Brownian motion case δ=1), the displacement never attains equilibrium: it ages. We thus show that this feature of normal diffusion is shared by a subdiffusive or superdiffusive motion. We provide a closed form analytic expression for the fluctuation–dissipation ratio characterizing aging.     

Weak disorder: anomalous transport and diffusion are normal yet again

We carry out a detailed study of the motion of particles driven by a constant external force over a landscape consisting of a periodic potential corrugated by a small amount of spatial disorder. We observe anomalous behavior in the form of subdiffusion and superdiffusion and even subtransport over very long time scales. Recent studies of transport over slightly random landscapes have focused only on parameters leading to normal behavior, and while enhanced diffusion has been identified when the external force approaches the critical value associated with the transition from locked to running solutions, the regime of anomalous behavior had not been recognized. We provide a qualitative explanation for the origin of these anomalies, and make connections with a continuous time random walk approach.     

Diffusive Behavior for Randomly Kicked Newtonian Particles in a Spatially Periodic Medium

We prove a central limit theorem for the momentum distribution of a particle undergoing an unbiased spatially periodic random forcing at exponentially distributed times without friction. The start is a linear Boltzmann equation for the phase space density, where the average energy of the particle grows linearly in time. Rescaling time, the momentum converges to a Brownian motion, and the position is its time-integral showing superdiffusive scaling with time t ^3/2. The analysis has two parts: (1) to show that the particle spends most of its time at high energy, where the spatial environment is practically invisible; (2) to treat the low energy incursions where the motion is dominated by the deterministic force, with potential drift but where symmetry arguments cancel the ballistic behavior.     

Molecular dynamics study of nanodroplet diffusion on smooth solid surfaces

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of Lennard–Jones particles in a canonical ensemble to study the diffusion of nanodroplets on smooth solid surfaces. Using the droplet-surface interaction to realize a hydrophilic or hydrophobic surface and calculating the mean square displacement of the center-of-mass of the nanodroplets, the random motion of nanodroplets could be characterized by shorttime subdiffusion, intermediate-time superdiffusion, and long-time normal diffusion. The short-time subdiffusive exponent increases and almost reaches unity (normal diffusion) with decreasing droplet size or enhancing hydrophobicity. The diffusion coefficient of the droplet on hydrophobic surfaces is larger than that on hydrophilic surfaces.     

Stochastic rolling of a rigid sphere in weak adhesive contact with a soft substrate

We study the rolling motion of a small solid sphere on a fibrillated rubber substrate in an external field in the presence of a Gaussian noise. From the nature of the drift and the evolution of the displacement fluctuation of the ball, it is evident that the rolling is controlled by a complex non-linear friction at a low velocity and a low noise strength (K), but by a linear kinematic friction at a high velocity and a high noise strength. This transition from a non-linear to a linear friction control of motion can be discerned from another experiment in which the ball is subjected to a periodic asymmetric vibration in conjunction with a random noise. Here, as opposed to that of a fixed external force, the rolling velocity decreases with the strength of the noise suggesting a progressive fluidization of the interface. A state (K) and rate (V) dependent friction model is able to explain both the evolution of the displacement fluctuation as well as the sigmoidal variation of the drift velocity with K. This research sets the stage for studying friction in a new way, in which it is submitted to a noise and then its dynamic response is studied using the tools of statistical mechanics. Although more works would be needed for a fuller realization of the above-stated goal, this approach has the potential to complement direct measurements of friction over several decades of velocities and other state variables. It is striking that the non-Gaussian displacement statistics as observed with the stochastic rolling is similar to that of a colloidal particle undergoing Brownian motion in contact with a soft microtubule.     

In vivo anomalous diffusion and weak ergodicity breaking of lipid granules

Combining extensive single particle tracking microscopy data of endogenous lipid granules in living fission yeast cells with analytical results we show evidence for anomalous diffusion and weak ergodicity breaking. Namely we demonstrate that at short times the granules perform subdiffusion according to the laws of continuous time random walk theory. The associated violation of ergodicity leads to a characteristic turnover between two scaling regimes of the time averaged mean squared displacement. At longer times the granule motion is consistent with fractional Brownian motion.     

Dependence of chaotic diffusion on the size and position of holes

A particle driven by deterministic chaos and moving in a spatially extended environment can exhibit normal diffusion, with its mean square displacement growing proportional to the time. Here, we consider the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the size and the position of areas of phase space linking spatial regions ('holes') in a class of simple one-dimensional, periodically lifted maps. The parameter dependent diffusion coefficient can be obtained analytically via a Taylor-Green-Kubo formula in terms of a functional recursion relation. We find that the diffusion coefficient varies non-monotonically with the size of a hole and its position, which implies that a diffusion coefficient can increase by making the hole smaller. We derive analytic formulas for small holes in terms of periodic orbits covered by the holes. The asymptotic regimes that we observe show deviations from the standard stochastic random walk approximation. The escape rate of the corresponding open system is also calculated. The resulting parameter dependencies are compared with the ones for the diffusion coefficient and explained in terms of periodic orbits.     

Diffusion in different models of active Brownian motion

Active Brownian particles (ABP) have served as phenomenological models of self-propelled motion in biology. We study the effective diffusion coefficient of two one-dimensional ABP models (simplified depot model and Rayleigh-Helmholtz model) differing in their nonlinear friction functions. Depending on the choice of the friction function the diffusion coefficient does or does not attain a minimum as a function of noise intensity. We furthermore discuss the case of an additional bias breaking the left-right symmetry of the system. We show that this bias induces a drift and that it generally reduces the diffusion coefficient. For a finite range of values of the bias, both models can exhibit a maximum in the diffusion coefficient vs. noise intensity.     

反常扩散:定向通过一个势能鞍点

考虑一个处于非Ohmic环境下的系统定向通过一个倒谐振子势鞍点的输运过程,给出了通过几率的解析式。结果表明在欠扩散情况下,时间有关的通过几率出现一个很强的超前峰和回流,这可能有助于理解重核熔合系统的激发函数随质心能量的慢增长机制。Directional transport of a particle in a non-Ohmic environment passing over the saddle point of a potential is considered and the analytical expression of the passing probability is obtained. Our results has shown that both overshooting and backflow are observed in the case of subdiffusion. This is a possible for understanding slow increasing of the fusion probability with the center-of-mass energy.     

Temperature-Abnormal Diffusivity in underdamped spatially periodic systems

A theoretical model of temperature-anomalous diffusion has been developed on the basis of computer calculation results. It has been shown that the behavior of diffusion in underdamped spatially periodic systems is anomalous in a certain force range: the diffusivity increases unlimitedly with a decrease in the temperature. Analytical expressions have been found for the width and position of this range depending on the friction coefficient and other parameters of the system. Scaling dependences of the diffusivity and mobility of particles on the friction coefficient have been obtained.     

Existence and analytical predictions of periodic motions in a periodically forced,nonlinear friction oscillator

The grazing bifurcation, stick phenomena and periodic motions in a periodically forced, nonlinear friction oscillator are investigated. The nonlinear friction force is approximated by a piecewise linear, kinetic friction model with the static force. The total forces for the input and output flows to the separation boundary are introduced, and the force criteria for the onset and vanishing of stick motions are developed through such input and output flow forces. The periodic motions of such an oscillator are predicted analytically through the corresponding mapping structure. Illustrations of the periodic motions in such a piecewise friction model are given for a better understanding of the stick motion with the static friction. The force responses are presented, which agreed very well with the force criteria. If the fully nonlinear friction force is modeled by several portions of piecewise linear functions, the periodically forced, nonlinear friction oscillator can be predicted more accurately. However, for the fully nonlinear friction force model, only the numerical investigation can be carried out.     

Multimode Active Control of Friction,Dynamic Ratchets and Actuators

Active control of friction by ultrasonic vibration is a well-known effect with numerous technical applications ranging from press forming to micromechanical actuators. Reduction of friction is observed with vibration applied in any of the three possible directions (normal to the contact plane, in the direction of motion and in-plane transverse). In this work, we consider the multi-mode active control of sliding friction, where phase-shifted oscillations in two or more directions act at the same time. Our analysis is based on a macroscopic contact-mechanical model that was recently shown to be well-suited for describing dynamic frictional processes. For simplicity, we limit our analysis to a constant, load-independent normal and tangential stiffness and two superimposed phase-shifted harmonic oscillations, one of them being normal to the plane and the other in the direction of motion. As in previous works utilizing the present model, we assume a constant local coefficient of friction, with reduction of the observed force of friction arising entirely from the macroscopic dynamics of the system. Our numerical simulations show that the resulting law of friction is determined by just three dimensionless parameters. Depending on the values of these parameters, three qualitatively different types of behavior are observed: (a) symmetric velocity-dependence of the coefficient of friction (same for positive and negative velocities), (b) asymmetric dependence with respect to the sign of the velocity, but with zero force at zero velocity, and (c) asymmetric dependence with nonzero force at zero velocity. The latter two cases can be interpreted as a "dynamic ratchet" (b) and an actuator (c).